A direct spinal cord-computer interface enables the control of the paralysed hand in spinal cord injury.

ABSTRACT: Paralysis of the muscles controlling the hand dramatically limits the quality of life for individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI). Here, with a non-invasive neural interface, we demonstrate that eight motor complete SCI individuals (C5-C6) are still able to task-modulate in real-time the activity of populations of spinal motor neurons with residual neural pathways. In all SCI participants tested, we identified groups of motor units under voluntary control that encoded various hand movements. The motor unit discharges were mapped into more than 10 degrees of freedom, ranging from grasping to individual hand-digit flexion and extension. We then mapped the neural dynamics into a real-time controlled virtual hand. The SCI participants were able to match the cue hand posture by proport

SUBMITTER: Oliveira DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11449141 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature