Medical Breakthrough: Brain Implant Allows Man To Feel Again [VIDEO]

First Posted: Oct 15, 2016 05:46 AM EDT
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The University of Pittsburg and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has collaborated to create a groundbreaking experiment that helped a paralyzed man experience the sense of touch using a mind-control bionic arm.

Nathan Copeland was only 18 when he had a car accident on a rainy winter night and was immediately diagnosed with tetraplegia, the paralysis of all four limbs, after the accident in 2004. He volunteered for a cutting edge experiment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center five years ago. Before his accident, Copeland was studying nanotechnology, which made him the perfect subject.

According to Pocono Record, the experiment involved tiny electrodes that were implanted in the sensory cortex of the young man's brain. Researchers then stimulated that area of the brain, which is responsible for the sensation in the right hand, and effectively avoided his damaged spinal cord. Since the man was already attached to a robotic arm, by the time a researcher pressed the fingers of the prosthesis, the subject was able to feel the pressure in the right fingers of his paralyzed hand.

The result of the experiment, which have been continuously done for several months with Copeland, provide a breakthrough in restoring a critical function in people with paralyzed limbs, not just the ability to move the limbs, but to actually feel them. Dr. Robert Gaunt, a research assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's physical medicine and rehabilitation department, helped develop the technology and worked with Copeland through the experimental procedure. "He was excited," Gaunt recalled of the moment Copeland regained feeling. "He's a pretty calm, collected guy, but it was a moment of great relief for me and a lot of cheering from the team," reported The Washington Post.

Since Copeland already had chips implanted in his brain that connected him to the mind-controlled robotic arm, all the researchers had to do was test whether the new chips allowed him to experience touch. To do this, researchers blindfolded him so he won't be able to see what the researcher was doing. One by one, the researcher touched each fingers on the robot's right hand, and each time Copeland correctly identified the location of the touch.

"I can feel just about every finger," Copeland said Wednesday. "Sometimes it feels electrical, and sometimes it's pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed." ABC News also reported that the research team was extremely ecstatic, but was mum the whole time. "I was awfully relieved," biomedical engineer Robert Gaunt acknowledged. "Nathan was pretty happy. These were places on the hand that he hasn't felt in 10 years."

Meanwhile, reports have also said that before this experiment, not a single robotic limb allowed a paralyzed person to experience the natural sense of touch, which is the number one goal in in rehabilitative prosthetic medicine. Experts say that in order for a prosthetic limb to really copy the full functionality of a human one, it showed be equipped with sensory feedback to and from the paralyzed person's brain.

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