Georgia Injury Law Blog
Thousands of people suffer spinal cord injuries in car accidents every year. Technologies and therapies that make use of sensors and impulses in order to trigger movement point to the way forward in spinal cord injury treatment. A recent study also broke new ground in this field.
The experiment was conducted on 17 persons who had no spinal injury. These persons were made to wear special fitting headgear that measured their brain impulses. They were asked to extend their legs or think about extending them. The researchers then recorded brain waves to identify when a subject moved his leg and intended to move his leg.
The researchers found that the brain waves were very similar in both the actual movements as well as the imagined movements. Using these electrodes, the researchers were able to identify when people were thinking about moving their leg even when they were not actually doing so, based on the brain waves recorded. These people were able to move their legs just by thinking about moving it, helped by the triggering of electrical impulses in the spinal cord.
While these experiments may not have been conducted on persons with a spine injury, the results are fascinating, and provide more depth to the current ongoing research into the use of brain sensors and the triggering of movement in persons who have been left paralyzed as the result of a spinal injury. The researchers say that this study is the first step towards the development of a brain spine interface that would help trigger real time lower limb movement in persons who suffer from paralysis after a spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injuries are serious personal injuries that can result in varying degrees of paralysis. After a spinal cord injury, a person may suffer from quadriplegia or paraplegia. Quadriplegia is a condition in which the person loses sensation and movement in both the upper and lower limbs, while paraplegia is a condition in which there is limited movement or sensation in the lower limbs.
Close to 390,000 people currently live with a spinal injury in the United States, and more than 18,000 people join those statistics every year. Many spinal injuries are the result of auto, motorcycle and pedestrian accidents, while others occur during assaults, industrial accidents and falls. Filing a claim after a spinal cord injury can be challenging because there are a number of damages that must be included in your claim. These damages must include not only short -term medical expenses after the injury, but also long -term expenses associated with medical care and improving quality of life.
The Atlanta auto accident lawyers at Katz Personal Injury Lawyers are dedicated to the representation of persons who have suffered injuries in auto accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across the state of Georgia. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in a car accident, talk to a lawyer at our firm and discuss your legal options for a claim for damages. You may qualify for compensation that includes medical costs, lost income and other types of damages. Talk to an attorney at our firm and discuss your case. Initial consultations are free.