4/24/2008
Have you ever watched a paraplegic stand up and walk around? Visit University of Alberta in Edmonton, and you just might see the unbelievable in action.
It's the groundbreaking work of Dr Richard Stein, a spinal cord researcher who has developed a device that delivers an electrical impulse to leg muscles, stimulating them to move. This tiny jolt of current would normally travel down the spinal column – but for people with damaged spines, the Bio-8 Stimulator delivers the impulse directly into the muscle, triggered by the shift in someone's balance associated with walking.
Dr. Stein has spent 45 years working with his colleagues to find ways of tackling spinal paralysis, and on April 2nd 2008, he was awarded the Barbara Turnbull Award For Spinal Cord Research for his efforts. The $50,000 prize money will go towards further research, focusing not just on better muscular control methods, but also on ways to trigger activity in the damaged spinal cord itself.
One of Dr. Stein's patients, 47-year-old Edgar Jackson, has one paralyzed leg, and has credited the doctor's innovative work with giving him "a new life."
"Dr. Stein has given me the greatest opportunity," he told The Edmonton Sun. "I'll be able to walk my two daughters down the aisle one day."
It's the groundbreaking work of Dr Richard Stein, a spinal cord researcher who has developed a device that delivers an electrical impulse to leg muscles, stimulating them to move. This tiny jolt of current would normally travel down the spinal column – but for people with damaged spines, the Bio-8 Stimulator delivers the impulse directly into the muscle, triggered by the shift in someone's balance associated with walking.
Dr. Stein has spent 45 years working with his colleagues to find ways of tackling spinal paralysis, and on April 2nd 2008, he was awarded the Barbara Turnbull Award For Spinal Cord Research for his efforts. The $50,000 prize money will go towards further research, focusing not just on better muscular control methods, but also on ways to trigger activity in the damaged spinal cord itself.
One of Dr. Stein's patients, 47-year-old Edgar Jackson, has one paralyzed leg, and has credited the doctor's innovative work with giving him "a new life."
"Dr. Stein has given me the greatest opportunity," he told The Edmonton Sun. "I'll be able to walk my two daughters down the aisle one day."
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