This new device could help people with spinal cord injuries restore function in their hands and arms

Its developers say it’s the first device which doesn't need to be implanted into the patient.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:10 The stimulation used in this study used a very high frequency waveform, and

00:25 that let us pass about five times more current through the skin to activate

00:29 the spinal cord.

00:30 The high frequency stimulation numbed the skin under the electrodes so

00:34 that people could easily tolerate that five-fold higher stimulation current.

00:39 [MUSIC]

00:47 >> Being able to do that, being able to give her the birthday party she wanted,

00:51 it's always nice for parents to get to satisfy kids' needs.

00:54 And I've been living on my own with my kids and stuff for quite a few years, so

00:59 being able to help them and support them and do things like that,

01:03 provide that for myself is a really huge accomplishment.

01:06 >> We used a battery of strength tests, so pinching an object between

01:10 the fingertips, grasping an object, testing the muscles, ten muscles in each arm,

01:16 and grading those as they do in the clinical settings.

01:19 And we also used two different functional tests that challenged people to do

01:23 things like inserting a key into a lock or a coin into a slot,

01:28 moving pegs in a board.

01:30 And both of those together showed us that over 72% of the people responded

01:35 to both the strength and the function outcome measure.

01:39 [MUSIC]

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