Medicine Two paralyzed people can walk better thanks to new method

SDA

8.1.2025 - 15:31

Almost 70 percent of all people with spinal cord injuries suffer from muscle spasms. (archive picture)
Almost 70 percent of all people with spinal cord injuries suffer from muscle spasms. (archive picture)
Keystone

New hope for paralyzed people: researchers from Lausanne and Italy have used a new method to alleviate muscle spasms in patients with spinal cord injuries. As a result, those affected were able to walk better again, as a study published on Wednesday shows.

Keystone-SDA

The new method consists of high-frequency electrical stimulation of the spinal cord, which blocks unwanted muscle spasms, as described in the study by researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the Scuola Sant'Anna in Italy in the journal "Science Translational Medicine".

As a result, the two patients treated in the study were able to participate in therapy programs that had been denied to them due to the muscle spasms. As a result, they showed significant improvements in walking tests and other motor assessments.

The two patients were a 32-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man who had both suffered spinal cord injuries in accidents.