Paralyzed Man Moves Hand after Successful Brain Chip Surgery

Earlier this year, surgeons and engineers collaborated on a surgery to implant a chip on the surface of a paralyzed man’s brain. The goal and hope was for him to regain control and movement in his hand. It looks as if this sci-fi story is turning into reality. With a cord coming from the top of his head (plugged into the chip on his brain), in something that looked like it was out of The Matrix movie franchise, Ian Burkhart moved his hand for the first time in four years. This paralyzed man moved his hand using only his thoughts and the electrodes wrapped around his arm. Doctors and engineers circumvented his broken spinal cord by picking up electrical signals from the brain (via the implanted chip), passing those signals through a computer, and firing electrical pulses to stimulate the muscles in the man’s forearm using an electrode sleeve.

The researchers at Battelle are calling it the Neurobridge and you can check out how it works here. The technology is a few years away from practical use but it’s an important first step in the process of helping paralyzed persons gain back their independence. This is an exciting time for a company like ours; one that manufactures products intended to give people a higher quality of life by making their lives more comfortable and pain-free. The future possibilities for our field are endless at this point. We look forward to following Ian’s story as well as other advances in the medical field in the near future. What once was deemed impossible is now reality. From neck pillows to back support belts and from specialty pillows to ankle braces, Core Products remains committed to making your life more comfortable.