On July 1, 2024, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a study in the journal Medicine nature. This presents the possibility for amputees to relearn to walk naturally using their thought and a bionic leg.
[Article initialement publié le 2 juillet 2024]
Results deemed “rather miraculous” by Professor Hugh Herr, the main author of the study.
A bionic leg entirely controlled by the brain
This bionic leg, the fruit of the work of researchers and MIT engineers, can therefore be controlled by the brain. In fact, in order to allow the patient to walk, it is notably connected to the nerves of the muscles loaded with the movement of the leg.
Then the prosthetic member is able to read the residual activity signals of the leg muscles to activate the leg. In remarks reported by the Guardianthe main author of the study does not hide his excitement and his pride about his invention:
“” “No one has been able to demonstrate such a level of brain control which produces a natural approach, where it is the nervous system of the man who controls movement, and not a robotic control algorithm. […] Not only will they be able to walk on a flat surface, but they will also be able to hike or dance because they will have control of their movements. ” Could we read in the columns of the British daily life.
Hugh Herr's personal history
Hugh Herr is not a researcher like the others and even less in the context of this study. If he is a researcher at MIT, he was also a fan of climbing and this passion cost him his two legs.
Indeed, the 59 -year -old scientist was amputated by his two members in 1982 when during an climbing excursion, he was caught in a blizzard which earned him very serious frostbite in the lower limbs. Unable to save his legs, the doctors of the time had therefore made the decision to remove them.
And if he managed to develop such a bionic leg, he hopes to take advantage of it too.
“” “I think I do it [se faire poser la prothèse bionique] For my two legs in the coming years. ” he declared to Guardian.
A prosthesis which “is part of the anatomy of the person”
Inevitably involved in the case of this study, Hugh Herr explains why such a prosthesis is revolutionary. To do this, he compares in particular a basic prosthesis, without electronics, to a simple tool for patients and not as a full -fledged member.
In front of this, “When the person can directly control and feel the movement of the prosthesis, he becomes a real part of the anatomy of the person.”He specifies to the English newspaper.
In addition, the results of the study show something intriguing. Indeed, this bionic leg would therefore make it possible to remarcher naturally and almost just as quickly as well-portable people.
“” “Compared to a cohort of paired amputees without increasing afferents, the maximum walking speed of neuroprosthesis is increased by 41%, which makes it possible to reach maximum speeds equivalent to those of people without amputation of the leg.”Can we read in particular at the very beginning of the study published in Medicine nature.
If the study focuses above all on the possibility of walking again thanks to a Bionic leg controlled by the brain, the researchers of the MIT specify, in the Institute's newspaper, that such an advance could also apply to the amputations of the arm.
Source: The Guardian / MIT News
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