Well, you may have missed it (Medgadget didn’t). But Muscular Electrical Stimulation is making it possible for some (key word some) to actually walk after spinal cord injuries.

A professor at Case Western Reserve University and his team are developing this system. Yes, many other teams are working on this around the world. There are too many paralysis victims that would love to walk (though they still lead wonderful lives).

Here’s what Jennifer French, the first success of the program says about the stimulation unit (the little box you see on her hip) and it’s 3 second time delay in activation

“There is a distinct learning curve,” French explained. “Because when …[you] press the button, there’s a three-second delay, you stand and there’s another three-second delay, where it’s fully implanted so you have to get your timing down of how it works. And that’s what you really need to work on, because there is a learning curve.”

You’ve  got to see the comic that the FES group put out releasing the information about the Stimulation system. It’s awesome, and quite a great way to learn about what they do.

This likely isn’t the panacea for everyone, but for a few people, this might be just the gadget to regain bipedal mobility. I’ve actually worked in Veterans hospitals during university on design projects. In situations like that, when you can generate a common action that a patient could not previously experience due to some difficulty or another, it adds a layer of self sufficiency to the person’s life, and typically a smile or joy that you can’t imagine. It’s one more thing they can do on their own.

Here’s where you can find Hunter and the group he works with at the Functional Electrical Stimulation in Cleveland, Ohio. These people really generate usable technology that’s going to bring a lot of joy to a lot of people. The smile on the faces of the users of these devices must simply be wonderful.

This is why we really love gadgets.

Thanks Cure SpinalCordInjury.com

Thanks Medgadget