Burkhart lost the use of his legs and forearms.
When he was 19 years old, Ian Burkhart met an injury that changed his life. Diving into the a shallow wave at a beach, he unexpectedly landed on the surface of the sandy bottom.
The accident severely injured his spinal cord, the large group of nerves which runs through the center of the spine and carries messages between the brain and the rest of the body as defined by Merriam.
Severely injured, he could no longer use his legs and forearms – not until a brain implant gave him another hope.
According to a new study conducted, Burkhart was implanted with a device in his brain. The device has connections to a sleeve of electrodes that he should be wearing in his forearm.
After the surgery, the 24-year-old man can now make use of his hand, wrist and several fingers.
The electrical device in the lab made him move his paralyzed parts of the body.
With the aid of the device implanted to his brain, he can now carry simple tasks like pouring water into a glass and even playing a “Guitar Hero”.
The division leader of neurotechnology and analytics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, Chad Bouton, said that Burkhart had really regained his functional movements with the use of the device.
The everyday activities really require functional movements – which is often times taken for granted by people according to Bouton.
Furthermore, with the use of brain-computer-interface technology, the man is also able to use his arm again.
The said technology used a computer. It translate the signals given by the brain into electrical pulses.
Indeed, science has really come a long way already. It even arrived to the point of giving another hope to a paralyzed man in the person of Ian.