A tiny, flexible device that wraps around the spinal cord could be a breakthrough in the treatment of spinal injuries.
The device, developed by a University of Cambridge team, can record 360-degree information and provide a complete picture of spinal cord activity, resea...
Patients with a spinal cord injury frequently develop diabetes and heart health problems, and researchers now think they know why.
It appears that neuron activity following the injury causes...
Tapping the power of the small brain region called the cerebellum could improve patients’ ability to move cutting-edge robotic limbs, a new study suggests.
The cerebellum is an ancient structure located under the brain, just above where the spinal cord connects to the ...
Stem cells derived from a patient's own fat can safely help improve sensation and movement after a spinal cord injury, a new, small study finds.
Patients treated with these stem cells experienced increased sensation from pinpricks and light touches, increased muscle stre...
It's hard for some folks who suffer illness-related urinary incontinence to judge whether they'll be able to hold it until they get home, or if they should rush to a bathroom now.
<...A new robotic hip exoskeleton could help stroke patients improve their walking stride, a new study shows.
More than 80% of stroke survivors develop problems walking, often because their step is shorter on one side than the other, researchers explained in background notes...
Fabrizio wasn't sure what to expect of his newly outfitted prosthetic hand, until he touched one of the researchers who'd given it to him.
“When one of the researchers placed the sensor on his own body, I could feel the warmth of another person with my phantom hand,”...
Elon Musk, co-founder of Neuralink, said this week that the company placed the first brain implant in a human over the weekend.
In a statement posted on X, the platform former...
A spinal cord injury can trigger muscle wasting in patients, causing them to drop more weight and muscle mass than can be explained solely by their paralysis, a new study in mice warns.
This muscle wasting is rapid and severe, and it appears to be linked to a hormone imb...
Many people with Lou Gehrig's disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), first start to lose the ability to move their arms and legs.
That's not Pat Bennett. She can move just fine. She can still dress herself, and she can even use her fingers to type.
...A severe spinal cord injury is traumatic enough, but new research now shows that trauma can trigger an immune deficiency that puts patients at risk for developing life-threatening infections.
A new study from a team of international researchers sheds light on spinal cor...
Age blunts the immune system's ability to respond to spinal cord injuries, new animal research indicates.
But researchers working with mice also found that the membranes surrounding the spinal cord play a key role in the immune response to spinal cord injury, a dis...
A Dutch man with paralyzed legs can now stand and walk, thanks to a wireless brain-spine interface that responds to his thoughts by moving his legs.
Gert-Jan Oskam, 40, suffered a spinal cord injury 11 years ago from a bike accident in China that left him unable to walk....
Dangerously low blood pressure is considered an “invisible” consequence of paralysis, adding to the woes of as many as 9 out of 10 people with spinal cord injuries.
Now, a new implant has been developed that treats the problem by delivering electrical stimulation to ...
It's a brutal reality that confronts many recovering stroke patients: After six months or so of rehab, any arm and hand movement not yet restored is unlikely to return.
A severely paralyzed person no longer needs to go through brain surgery to try and steer a motorized wheelchair with their mind, researchers report.
Through an electrode-studded cap placed on their head, several people with quadriplegia -- no function in all four limbs -...
In an advance in treating spinal cord injuries, researchers have pinpointed nerve cells that are key to allowing people with paralysis to walk again.
The findings come, in part, from nine patients involved in an ongoing Swiss study that is seeking to restore movemen...
While adults typically need steroid medication to treat Bell's palsy, mo...
Singer Justin Bieber said Tuesday that he will take a break from touring while he takes care of his health.
Bieber has a condition known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which...
Poliovirus detected in New York City wastewater last week put public health officials on high alert, as it indicates the potentially paralyzing virus is circulating widely in the area.
But infectious disease experts say there's no need for families of fully vaccinated ch...
Actor Ashton Kutcher is opening up about dealing with a rare condition called vasculitis that for a time left him seriously disabled.
In an episode of “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge,” airing Aug. 14 on National Geographic channel, Kutcher, 44, reveals ...
A drug in development as a cancer therapy may also help the body regenerate damaged nerves after spinal injuries, new research suggests.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom report that they used cell and animal models to show that the drug, d...
A brighter future could be in store for people with a spinal cord injury if new animal research pans out in humans.
Mice that were paralyzed due to severe spinal cord damage regained the ability to walk within four weeks of receiving an experimental injectable therapy, s...
A handful of "locked-in" amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients can now work a laptop computer using their brain waves, thanks to an implant lodged in a major vein inside their skull.
T...
Unable to move a single muscle, even to open your eyes. Completely locked into your own body, yet fully conscious and aware.
In a finding that reinforces the safety of COVID vaccines, a new study shows that while the shots don't raise the risk of rare neurological problems, COVID-19 infection might.
The researchers focused on four immune-related neurological disorders:
Adults with spinal cord injuries have a high risk of depression, anxiety and other mental health issues -- and chronic pain is a major factor, according to a new study.
Researchers analyzed private insurance claims from more than 9,000 U.S. adults with a traumatic s...
A motorcycle crash left Michel Roccati with complete lower-body paralysis from a devastating spinal cord injury.
That was in 2017.
But now, the Italian native is walking again, courtesy of groundbreaking Swiss research that restores motor function within one day b...
Spinal cord injuries in childhood are devastating no matter how they happen, but new research suggests that kids felled by gunshots are even worse off than those who suffer such an injury nonviolently.
Tight blood pressure control -- not too high and not too low -- during surgery for spinal cord injuries may improve patients' outcomes, a new study suggests.
"Damage to neurons in spinal cord injuries leads to dysregulation of blood pressure, which in turn limits the sup...
Severe spinal cord injuries are incurable today in humans, but a new injectable therapy that restored motion in laboratory mice could pave the way for healing paralyzed people.
The therapy -- liquid nanofibers that gel around the damaged spinal cord like a soothing ...
Survivors of spinal cord injuries who develop resilience are able to adapt and thrive despite the challenges, according to a researcher who himself is a resilient survivor.
"For someone with a cord injury, your margin for surviving even small mistakes when it comes to yo...
After a stroke, the best time to work on regaining hand and arm use is 60 to 90 days later, according to a new clinical trial.
Starting intensive rehab at less than 30 days can be helpful, too, but waiting until six months can be too late for maximum benefit, said resear...
Researchers have developed an implant that allowed a man with severe paralysis to "speak" again by translating his brain signals into text.
The achievement is the latest step in "brain-computer interface" (BCI) research.
Scientists have been studying BCI technology...
The robot hand extends toward a small cube, guided by signals from electrodes implanted in the brain of partially paralyzed patient Nathan Copeland.
In surprisingly smooth fashion, Copeland's mind directs the robot hand to pick up the cube and move it to another part of ...
A microchip implanted in the brain has allowed a paralyzed man to communicate by text -- at speeds that approach the typical smartphone user.
The achievement is the latest advance in "brain-computer interface" (BCI) systems.
Scientists have been studying BCI techn...
Stroke survivor Ken Allsford focused intensely on how he wanted to bend his elbow.
And then the robot exoskeleton attached to his left arm obeyed his unspoken command, moving his crippled limb.
"It was a combination of exciting and trepidation, because sometimes no...
People paralyzed with spinal cord injuries can safely and effectively use an exoskeleton to assist them in walking, a new study finds.
"Participants showed improvement regardless of level of injury, completeness or duration of injury," said Gail Forrest, director of the...
Could telehealth help paralyzed stroke victims recover their motor skills faster than they would working directly with a physical therapist?
Yes, claims a new study that found patients who had participated in at least 12 weeks of at-home rehabilitation with live vide...
Most people now know that COVID-19 can cause blood clots, potentially leading to paralysis, stroke, heart attack and death.
While it's not clear precisely how SARS-CoV-2 causes clots, a new study suggests that the amount of a particular protein -- called factor V --...
A new outbreak of a mysterious, potentially fatal polio-like illness could strike hundreds of American children within the next few months, U.S. health officials warned Tuesday.
Acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) outbreaks have occurred every two years in the United States...
For Ron Panzok and many patients like him, the battle with COVID-19 didn't end when he left the hospital.
From the ambulance ride to North Shore University Hospital on New York's Long Island to the day he finally woke from a medically induced coma five weeks later, P...
If you've ever wondered what your brain is doing while you sleep, a new study gives the first direct evidence that it's busy "replaying" our waking experiences.
The finding comes from a research project called BrainGate, which is testing new technology for people who...
A sense of touch has been restored to a young man who lost it after being left paralyzed from the elbows down following a swimming accident nearly a decade ago.
How? By tapping into almost imperceptible neural signals that can remain even after spinal cord injury, an...
Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans develop some form of facial paralysis from a variety of causes.
The loss of facial control and expression that follows can bring sometimes devastating stigma, depression and anxiety, a new study shows.
This seem...
In what doctors say is an extremely rare occurrence, a woman in her 70s went to her doctor to have impacted ear wax removed and wound up with permanent paralysis in her face.
The case report was described by British physicians in the Dec. 19 online edition of JAM...
Last October, 15-year-old Alec Woodruff developed a strange-sounding cough. Less than a week later, he was fighting for his life in the hospital, partially paralyzed and with a tube in his throat attached to a ventilator because just breathing was a task he could no longer do ...
If you're in the throes of a stroke, being stuck in an ambulance in big-city traffic is the last place you want to be -- unless you're riding in a specially equipped ambulance called a mobile stroke unit (MSU).
A new study reports that suspected stroke patients in Ne...
A new antibody test appears to have honed in on the most likely cause of a mysterious polio-like disease that regularly sweeps through the United States.
The new test detected antibodies for two types of enteroviruses in the spinal fluid of dozens of patients diagnos...
There is still no clear cause for a mysterious paralytic condition that has been striking U.S. children over the past five years, government health officials report.
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspect that a virus of some kind ...