The patient was a 26-year-old man who was paralysed in both legs after a spinal cord injury five years before. He also lost his sense of feeling when he was injured.
Journal of Neuroengineering & Rehabilitation describes that the researchers’ goal was to make it possible for the patient to regain intuitive brain-control over his legs without brain surgery. To achieve this goal, researchers created a brain computer and an interface system which decoded patterns in the brain activity by means of an electroencephalogram (EEG) while the patient thought about walking.
Then he underwent training to learn to control brain waves within virtual walking. Once he had achieved this, his muscle strength had to be rebuilt as it had been weakened after many years of inactivity. His muscle strength was rebuilt by means of electrical stimulation combined with weight shifting manoeuvres. Once his muscles were strong enough to conduct the experiment, he was suspended above ground, and by power of thought the EEG signal was sent to the electrodes placed around his knees. The electrodes stimulated the muscles and after a few tries, the improvement was so big that the man was able to put his feet to the ground.
Wearing a harness to provide some body-weight support and to keep him from falling, he was capable of transforming brain waves into walking. After a while, his ability to control brain waves had improved so much that he was able to walk several meters.
Source:
https://www.livescience.com/52285-paralyzed-walk-brain-waves.html
