Parkinson’s patient walks unassisted for first time in years, thanks to spinal electrodes

The “game-changing technology”  could help restore movement in people with advanced forms of the disease according to Parkinson’s researchers.

Transcript

00:00 [ Music ]

00:20 My role was to implant electrodes

00:23 over the spinal cord responsible for locomotion.

00:27 So those are the last six centimeters of the spinal cord

00:30 and I applied electrodes on the top of the spinal cord

00:34 that are linked to a neurostimulator located

00:37 under the skin in the region of the abdomen.

00:39 We start programming the stimulator in order

00:44 to apply this electrical stimulation

00:46 to the spinal cord of Mark and he starts walking better.

00:51 [ Music ]

01:03 So we've got 153,000 people affected by Parkinson's

01:07 in the UK now and about 12 million globally.

01:11 So unfortunately, as people progress

01:15 down their Parkinson's journey, you know,

01:18 the medications stop working.

01:20 So with that individual that underwent the implantation,

01:24 he was having freezing, having regular falls

01:29 and that is really quite a common occurrence in somebody

01:32 with advanced Parkinson's.

01:34 So you are dealing with a significant number

01:36 that would potentially benefit from this.

01:38 [ Music ]