Research participant Doug McCullough uses the adaptive exercise bike during a testing session at the University of Pittsburgh. Image: Nate Langer, UPMC and University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences
Daily electrical stimulation of certain nerves in the spinal cord appeared to help three people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an inherited disorder that causes muscles to waste away.
The treatment increased leg muscle strength in all three participants and allowed them to walk farther, researchers report in the journal Nature Medicine.
“After some days, my legs just felt supercharged,” says Doug McCullough, 57, one of the participants in the month-long study at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
If the benefits of spinal stimulation are…