Parkinson's patients can miraculously walk three miles every weekend after medical breakthrough

Advanced can impair people’s ability to walk

Approximately 90% of people with advanced Parkinson’s Disease develop issues with walking. In many cases, these walking problems could not be alleviated with the currently available treatments.

However, a major breakthrough in medical science could well change that. A team of neurosurgeons and neuroscientists from the universities of Bordeaux, France, and Lausanne, Switzerland, plus the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have created an electronic device that could help people with Parkinson’s Disease walk without the danger of falling.

“Unlike conventional treatments for Parkinson’s, which target the regions of the brain directly affected by the loss of dopamine-producing neurons, this neuroprosthetic targets the spinal area responsible for activating leg muscles while walking, which is not seemingly affected by Parkinson’s disease,” explained Grégoire Courtine, Professor of neuroscience at Lausanne University Hospital.

Jocelyne Bloch, who is a neurosurgeon and professor at Lausanne, and co-director of the NeuroRestore centre with ­Courtine, added further context: “It is impressive to see how by ­electrically stimulating the spinal cord in a targeted manner, in the same way as we have done with paraplegic patients, we can correct any walking ­disorders caused by ­Parkinson’s disease.”

The ability to implant the device in a patient is a testament to the work of Dr Erwan Bezard, neuroscientist at Bordeaux University. Dr Bezard has studied neurodegenerative issues extensively and his vast knowledge of the topic was instrumental in devising the conceptual and technological details for inserting the device inside people.

The researchers highlight the story of Marc, their first patient, as evidence of the efficacy of the device. Marc, who is from Bordeaux in France, was operated on two years ago and the new neuroprosthetic was placed against the spinal cord, which controls the ability to walk. Meanwhile, an electrical impulse generator was inserted under the abdomen.

A program of spinal cord stimulations, which react in real-time to movements, has given Marc his ability to walk confidently back. After undergoing weeks of rehabilitation with his neuroprosthetic, the Frenchman can now walk to a degree that is almost normal.

Marc uses his device eight hours a day and only turns it off when he is sitting down and inactive physically or when he is sleeping. “I turn on the stimulation in the morning and I turn it off in the evening,” he said.

“This allows me to walk better and to stabilise. Right now, I’m not even afraid of the stairs any more. Every Sunday I go to the lake, and I walk around six kilometres. It’s incredible.”

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