Body
Paralysis, the devastating inability to move arms or legs, is the most obvious consequence of severe spinal cord injury. However, SCI also causes a loss of sensation from the limbs, typically affecting both the sense of touch and proprioception. Studies have revealed that this loss of somatosensation (the "sense of the body") in the very unusual cases when normal strength is preserved, makes standing, walking, and normal arm movements almost impossible. In parallel with our development of "motor" BMIs, we are also developing a somatosensory BMI. Instead of using cortical recordings to read information from the brain, we are using intracortical microstimulation to write information to the brain, causing an artificial sense of limb movement. For more information click here: http://labs.feinberg.northwestern.edu/lee-miller/research/projects/proprioception/