Brain implant restores both movement and touch after spinal injury

Keith Thomas was left with almost no ability to move or feel below his neck after a diving accident in 2020. In 2023 he joined an experimental study in which an implant was placed in his brain. The device uses what researchers call a double neural bypass: it routes signals around the damaged section of the spinal cord by stimulating both the motor cortex in the brain and the spinal cord itself at the same time.

Movement and sensation restored together

Earlier work in this field tended to focus on one direction at a time, either restoring movement or returning sensation. The researchers pursued a combined approach. By stimulating motor and sensory pathways simultaneously, Thomas was able to lift his arms and shoulders. He could also feel touch again, including the fur of his dog.

The study is experimental and involves a single participant, which makes the results preliminary. Whether the effect is durable and reproducible in a broader group has not yet been established. Even so, the study demonstrates that simultaneous brain and spinal cord stimulation can activate both motor and sensory functions in a person with severe spinal cord injury.

Relevance beyond spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injuries typically affect younger people. But the underlying mechanism holds broader interest for aging science. Brain circuits that had not been used for years still responded to the right signals. This suggests a degree of neural plasticity that may be greater than previously assumed.

As people age, many gradually lose sensation in their hands or feet due to nerve damage. Whether brain-spinal interfaces could eventually serve that population is speculative at this stage. But the finding that lost sensory contact with the brain can be re-established opens a line of inquiry that will likely be explored further in coming years.

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