Spinal stimulation helped two stroke patients regain movement in their arm and hand, NPR reported Feb. 20.
Researchers delivered pulses of electricity to spinal nerve cells, and in one patient, the effects of stimulation were "immediate," the report said. The patient could move her hand and arm, and while the effects diminished, they didn't go away entirely when stimulation was turned off. Spinal stimulation also improved proprioception in the patients.
The results will need to be replicated but gives "a lot of hope" for stroke patients, Walter Koroshetz, MD, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said in the report.
The findings were published in Nature Medicine.