major breakthrough has occurred overseas, offering new hope for the nearly 1 million Americans living with Parkinson’s disease. A man in France, who has been suffering from the disease, is now able to walk again thanks to a spinal implant.
At the age of 63, Mark is walking around his hometown, which he wasn’t able to do before. This implant stimulates the neurons in his body, redirecting the damaged pathways caused by Parkinson’s. The implant has shown promising results, with Mark walking close to four miles independently.
Dr. Irwin Bizar, who was involved in the development of this technology, explains that the implant recreates the normal working behavior by stimulating each muscle responsible for movement. The significance of this breakthrough is highlighted by the fact that 90% of Parkinson’s patients experience balance issues that can eventually lead to an inability to walk.
Mark’s condition has been significantly reversed by the neurostimulator, which operates on a closed loop system. It reads the patient’s mind to determine when they want to walk and sends signals through the spinal cord stimulator to facilitate walking. Although the implant has not undergone a full clinical trial, the Swiss research team is working on enrolling six more patients to assess if these positive results can be replicated. This breakthrough represents a potential answer and assistance for Parkinson’s patients struggling with gait and balance issues..
