In 2011, Gert-Jan Oskam suffered a motorbike accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. The injury severed the connection between his brain and his legs, preventing signals from reaching his legs to make them move. However, Dr. Jocelyne Bloch, a neurosurgeon at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland, had hope for Oskam’s recovery.
In 2018, Bloch implanted a device on Oskam’s spine that could send out electrical impulses, allowing him to walk with a walker after intensive training. Although the movement was initially awkward and required pushing a button, Oskam made significant progress. In 2023, Bloch implanted additional devices inside Oskam’s brain to create a “digital bridge” between his legs and his brain. With more training, Oskam was able to move much more naturally, gaining precise control of his joints and even climbing stairs.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Oskam’s recovery is that he could still walk with the device turned off, indicating that it may be helping his nervous system rebuild itself. Neuroscientist Grégoire Courtine, a professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, worked on the development of the device and hopes to make it safe and effective for wider public use within the next decade. However, the team is still exploring ways to enhance the technology further with the ultimate goal of enabling paralyzed individuals to walk completely “normally.”
