Onward Medical Neurostimulators

2024: Successful use: 40 people with paralysis were able to regain control of their hands and hands

In mid-June 2024, the results of a clinical trial of a new noninvasive Onward device for patients with arm paralysis were presented. During the tests, more than 40 people with paralysis were able to regain partial control over their hands and hands. The device, developed by Swiss medical technology firm Onward, supplies electrical current through electrodes placed on the skin of paralyzed patients near the site of spinal cord injury.

After two months of therapy, 43 of the 60 people in the study were able to partially regain control of their hands, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine. In addition, they noted an increase in the strength of the muscles of the hands and forearms.

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Onward Medical

A number of discoveries have been made in this field of therapy in recent years, and electrical stimulation of the spinal cord has even allowed several patients to regain the ability to walk. However, these devices require invasive surgery for implantation. The Onward device is simpler, but it can be no less revolutionary, since it does not require serious surgical intervention, but it can significantly affect the lives of patients.

It seems to people that after a spinal injury, patients only dream about how to be able to walk again, "said Melanie Reid, a British journalist and trial participant who was paralysed 15 years ago after falling from a horse. - However, for patients with tetraplegia or paralysis of the upper limbs, it is much more important to regain control of the arms, because this is our main tool of interaction with the world.

2022: Onward Medical neurostimulators help paralyzed patients learn to swim and cycle again

In early February 2022, it became known that an implant developed by Onward Medical to stimulate the spinal cord allowed three paralyzed patients to independently take steps on a treadmill within one day after the device was activated. Patients were also able to stand, walk, swim and pedal their bikes after the start of rehabilitation, which began in the summer of 2021. The first introduction of technology to restore the function of the hand and hand is expected in early 2023.

Onward Medical neurostimulators help paralyzed patients learn to swim and cycle again

The technology helped the patient get out of a wheelchair and walk after the patient was paralyzed by a partial spinal cord injury, but the latest findings helped three men with a full spinal cord injury walk outside the lab again. The neurostimulator is an isolated device, similar to a pacemaker, consisting of a battery and electronics. It is implanted subcutaneously, and produces the electrical impulses necessary for unilateral or bilateral stimulation, the impulses in turn being conducted along extension cords and electrodes to the spinal cord. The doctor's programmer is used to program neurostimulators, and the parameters of pulses generated by the neurostimulator can be non-invasively changed using the same device. The programmer transmits the settings to the neurostimulator remotely using radio frequency communication.

Our stimulation algorithms are still based on imitation of nature. Our soft implantable wires are designed to be placed under the vertebrae, directly on the spinal cord. They can modulate neurons that regulate specific muscle groups. By controlling these implants, we can activate the spinal cord in the same way that the brain does, "said co-developer of the neurostimulator system Gregoire Courtine.

The patients triggered the muscles of the legs and torso using buttons on the walkers, which transmitted various commands to the tablet and then to the pacemaker, which was located on the stomach. The electrocardiostimulator, in turn, gave signals to implanted spinal wires that stimulated certain neurons to perform a particular task.^[1]

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