Ian Burkhart is paralyzed from the chest down. But he can pick up a credit card and swipe it. He can pick up a bottle and pour. And he can do it all just by thinking about it.
It’s the latest advance in efforts to help restore movement to people who are paralyzed. In Burkhart’s case, a small brain implant picks up his thoughts and transmits them to a computer, which then sends signals to a sleeve that twitches his hand into action.
“I just think about what I want to do and now I can do it,” said Burkhart, 24.
It’s not seamless. Burkhart is plugged in – a large plug at the top of his skull, and wires attached to the sleeve that stimulates his arm, wrist and finger muscles.
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Ian Burkhart, 24, plays a guitar video game as part of a study into neural bypass technology that allowed him to regain functional use of his paralyzed hand. Ohio State University
Ian Burkhart had barely finished his freshman year of college when he broke his neck.
Standing on top of a cliff in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, which overlooked an orange sandbar jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, he dove hands-first toward the deceptively shallow water below.
“It happened so fast. There was this loud snap,” he says.
The impact with the sandbar broke his vertebrae at what’s called the C5 level, paralyzing his body from the elbows down. He spent the next four months recovering. Doctors told him he’d never be able to use his arms again.
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Image: The Ohio State University
Ian Burkhart shares a smile with Chad Bouton, research leader from Battelle. Bouton and his team at Battelle pioneered the Neurobridge technology, working closely with doctors from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, which allowed Burkhart to become the first patient ever to move his paralyzed hand with his own thoughts.
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Ian Burkhart, 24, plays a guitar video game as part of a study into neural bypass technology that allowed him to regain functional use of his paralyzed hand. Ohio State University
Image: The Ohio State University
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