"The first steps after my mountain biking accident were such a surprise, and I am thrilled to have progressed by continuing to take more steps each day,” said Participant 3, Jeff Marquis, 35, the first participant in this study to attain bilateral steps, noting that, “In addition, my endurance has improved, as I've regained strength and the independence to do things I used to take for granted like cooking and cleaning.”

He said that his main goal at this point was to continue to help with the research efforts in the hope that it will show greater potential to aid others with spinal cord injuries.


The research interest is growing in the use of such neuromodulation approaches to help restore walking, cardiovascular and urological functions. “Epidural stimulation is likely to become a standard treatment with several improvements in design of the device to target more specific neurological circuits,” advised Dr. Maxwell Boakye, chief of spinal neurosurgery at the UofL and clinical director of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center.

Neuromodulation news took an interesting turn in March, 2017, when MedAutonomic announced that it had successfully implanted a brain neuromodulation device, the Phoenix, into the stomach wall of a swine through a digestive endoscopic procedure. The Phoenix sends signals to the brain, which could be used to treat functional diseases such as type-2 diabetes, hypertension, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Initial results are promising, said MedAutonomic President Dr. Valerio Cigaina, noting that, “we are able to implant our device without surgery in less than five minutes.”

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