Hope for those with complete spinal cord injuries

Implant helps paralyzed man stand, take steps: Electrical stimulator gives Portland man ability to move his legs

After Rob Summers was paralyzed below the chest in a car accident in 2006, his doctors told him he would never stand again. They were wrong.

Despite intensive physical therapy for three years, Summers' condition hadn't improved. So in 2009, doctors implanted an electrical stimulator onto the lining of his spinal cord to try waking up his damaged nervous system. Within days, Summers, 25, stood without help. Months later, he wiggled his toes, moved his knees, ankles and hips, and was able to take a few steps on a treadmill.

"It was the most incredible feeling," said Summers, of Portland, Oregon. "After not being able to move for four years, I thought things could finally change.

I hope this bears fruit. It must be incredible to be able to take steps, even if it's only for short periods during therapy, after not being able to for years. According to one of the librarians in our system (some of our hospitals, including hers, treat spinal cord injury), there is a Kentucky connexion, as the lead author is from the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center in Louisville and that is where he is undergoing therapy.