ANA Secretary Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael is featured in the Medical News Today article "How researchers are restoring movement in people with spinal cord injuries." Dr. Carmichael discusses a study by researchers from the NeuroRestore research center at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland that identified specific neurons that, when activated, help restore a person’s ability to stand up and walk after paralysis.
Dr. Carmichael explains, "Many in the field of neurorehabilitation assumed that spinal cord stimulation would mediate recovery of walking by facilitating the firing of neurons together in the proper sequence and within a new group of active neurons—a new network of neurons that takes over the function of walking. However, this group of authors found that instead, stimulation of the spinal cord turns down activity of most neurons, and selectively activates a new and under-recognized population of neurons in the spinal cord, the Vsx2 neurons.”
The study recently appeared in the journal Nature. Read the full Medical News Today article here.