The mind-reading devices that can free paralysed muscles
Technologies that restore movement and the sense of touch are helping people to overcome the physical effects of stroke and spinal-cord injury.
When Your Bladder or Bowels Control Your Life
Everybody has to go. For those of us with neurological conditions like spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, or even complications from a stroke, you can often feel tethered to the toilet. In fact, bladder and bowel control consistently rank among the most important functions to regain among people living with spinal cord injury, according to…
For Amputees, Reactivating the Sense of Touch
When Keith Vonderhuevel lost his arm in a factory accident, he never thought that he’d be able to feel his hand again. That may very well change. Keith is currently a research subject at the Cleveland VA Sensory Restoration Lab, where a team of engineers is pioneering prostheses that allow amputees to feel touch, pressure…
The Neuroscientist Who’s Building a Better Memory for Humans
In an episode of the dystopian near-future series, Black Mirror, a small, implantable device behind the ear grants the ability to remember, access, and replay every moment of your life in perfect detail, like a movie right before your eyes. Read full story…
A Hand Instead of a Tool: New Prosthetics Offer Increased Touch-Sensitivity
Touch-sensitive prosthetics are unarguably a life-changing development. For amputees, the prospect of being able to experience not just sensation with their prosthetics, but the level of intensity of the sensation as well, is powerful and infinitely useful. A team of scientists is making great strides in providing that very experience to amputees in a study…
CWRU and Halyard Health partnering to advance non-narcotic pain management
What if eliminating physical pain was a matter of flipping a switch to block it? No drug needed. When it’s time to stop the block, just turn it off. Read more…
Brain Implant Allows Man to Feel Touch on Robotic Hand
At the end of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker feels when a needle pricks his newly-installed bionic hand. Researchers report today in the journal Science Translational Medicine that they can do something similar: stimulating regions of a human test subject’s brain with electrodes can recreate the perception of touch in a robotic hand. Read…
Zubizarreta House for spinal cord patients soon to be reality
MetroHealth has long been known as one of the best rehab centers for spinal cord injuries. As part of the Cleveland FES Center the researchers, engineers and clinicians are on the cutting edge of research. But for dozens of spinal cord patients who don’t live in Northeast Ohio, the dream of accessing that research is often logistically out…
Cleveland Institute of Art: quiet champion of biomedical arts
Biomedical Art students from CIA are often hired as interns at the Center for medical illustration, communicating complex medical information visually so patients, the public, and other medical professionals can better understand it. Learn more…
I Was Paralyzed By a Spinal Cord Injury – and It’s Made My Life More Fulfilling
Christopher Wynn broke his neck diving into the ocean. Now, he runs an activity-based recovery program for other injured people. Wynn has benefited from functional electrical stimulation, which provides him with the ability to grasp objects. Read full story…