‘Shocking’ study gives hope to paralyzed people; shows electricity helps them stand, move legs

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/shocking-study-hope-paralyzed-people-article-1.1749234

‘It could still be a life-changer for them,’ experts say, but they also add that while this breakthrough is promising, ‘there is no miracle cure on the way’ for paralysis.

Electricity may provide hope to men and women who suffer paralysis.

Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralyzed man’s spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now they’ve done the same with three other patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke.

“This is wonderful news. Spinal cord injury need no longer be a lifelong sentence of paralysis,” said Dr. Roderic Pettigrew, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, one of the National Institutes of Health, according to NBC News. “It is just downright marvelous.”

“The big message here is that people with spinal cord injury of the type these men had no longer need to think they have…