They couldn't move their hands for years. A new device offers the promise of mobility.
For Melanie Reid, 67, one of the most significant changes was being able to pull her hair back into a ponytail by herself for the first time in 14 years. She no longer needs help unbuckling her seatbelt and can now scroll on her phone using both thumbs.
Sherown Campbell, 41, credits spinal cord stimulation for a 30% increase in his typing speed. “I’m kind of a tech geek,” he said. The Castle Pines, Colorado resident can also assist more in the kitchen, grip the steering wheel better while driving, and tie balloons for his kids’ birthday parties.
Reid and Campbell participated in a clinical trial two years ago for people with spinal cord injuries. Reid had suffered a fall from a horse that left her left hand completely unusable. Campbell, a former software engineer and father of two, had lost all movement below his shoulders following a wrestling injury in 2014.
They were among 64 volunteers from the U.S., Europe, and Canada, some of whom had been injured up to 30 years ago. All participants underwent an experimental spinal cord stimulation therapy for 12 weeks, using a device with electrodes placed on the back of the neck and the front of the hips, which did not require surgery.
More than 70% of participants showed improvements in strength and function, and 87% reported an enhanced overall quality of life, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
While spinal stimulation has long been part of physical therapy, the ARC-EX Therapy device uses extremely high-frequency waves, explained Chet Moritz, a principal investigator on the trial. This high frequency numbs the pain fibers in the skin, allowing more signals to reach the spinal cord.
“It doesn’t directly trigger movement, but it facilitates easier movement for people,” said Moritz, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington. He noted that improvements accumulate over time with stimulation, and combined with intensive physical therapy, the benefits last even after the stimulation is turned off.
Animal research suggests that the stimulation promotes nerve growth and repairs some damage caused by the initial spinal cord injury, said Grégoire Courtine, co-founder of ONWARD Medical, which is working to commercialize the device.
About 18,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries each year, with around 60% experiencing limited or no hand or arm function, said Edelle Field-Fote, another researcher on the project and director of spinal cord injury research at Emory University School of Medicine’s Shepherd Center in Atlanta. “Even small improvements in hand function make a big difference in quality of life,” she noted.
If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which Courtine expects by the end of this year, the ARC-EX System will be the first spinal cord stimulation therapy approved for treating spinal cord injury patients.
Courtine is among several researchers who have been striving for decades to help spinal cord injury patients regain movement through electrical stimulation. ONWARD is also exploring other spinal stimulation approaches to improve mobility for patients with spinal cord injuries and Parkinson’s disease.
Both Reid, a writer with the London Times who lives in Scotland, and Campbell, who resides near Denver, expressed a wish that they had access to the device immediately after their injuries. Most recovery typically occurs within the first year following a spinal cord injury.
“It would have done me an enormous amount of good,” Reid said. She recalled seeing people in the rehabilitation gym unable to feed themselves or scratch their noses when they itched. “Imagine how primary that is, how life-changing that is,” she said, to have a device enabling them to do so.
Both Reid and Campbell also wished they could have used the system for longer than the 12 weeks of the study. Campbell, who received an extra four weeks of stimulation in an at-home trial extension, continued his exercises after the study ended.
Reid described the workouts as “doing a Pilates class on your fingers” and said she stopped but began using her left hand more in her everyday life. Both maintained the gains achieved during the research.
Moritz noted that this was true for most participants. The more they continued using the functions gained during the study, the more likely they were to retain them long-term. “They were essentially giving themselves additional therapy,” he said.
Field-Fote added that the gains might be even more substantial and longer-lasting with additional stimulation time.
Reid said the best part might have been the psychological shift. Knowing that her body could still improve, even years after being paralyzed, she said, “it makes you hold your head up, your shoulders back, and look at life a little bit differently.”
