The timing could not have been more eerie. It was the night of Friday the 13th in 1998, under the light of the full moon, when then 26-year-old Jennifer French went on a midnight snowboarding run with some friends on a New England mountain. Everyone made it to the bottom of the slope – except…
One of the first patients to receive implanted muscle stimulation technology developed at the Cleveland FES (Functional Electrical Simulation) Center will represent the United States in sailing this weekend at the 2012 Paralympic Games. Jennifer French, a native of North Royalton, is among six U.S. athletes who begin racing Sept. 1 on the south coast…
Dale thought he would never walk again after a fall from a ladder crushed his spine, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. However, thanks to research conducted by Cleveland FES Center, Dale can not only stand but also ambulate. “I was at a loss because I was used to being busy and active and…
Bob Veillette will never move again. But that does not mean he will never again grab a cup of coffee. The technology that may allow him to do that, called Brain Computer Interface or BCI, produces results of an almost Biblical level: it can allow the deaf to hear, the blind to see and the…
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is the use of low-power electric signals on muscle. It has been part of the spinal cord paralysis world for more than 30 years; back in the early 1980s people living with paralysis began to use FES to “ambulate,” while using walkers and braces – not practical or everyday functional, but…