Goodbye wheelchair: Bionic legs allow paralysed man to walk again

This certainly looks cool; but how soon do you think it will be until they have to develop models for people who *can* walk but just don't want to?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1295024/Bionic-legs-let-paralysed-man-walk-again.html

We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. (Insert Name Here) will be that man; better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.

And for those who are unable to walk, what a hope for their futures.

If people can walk, they will walk.

As for the rest, those bionic britches are a hell of a lot better than being stuck in a chair, physically, mentally and emotionally.

I hoped the military's "exoskeleton" idea would find its way into the private sector for paraplegics. Gawd knows the military makes enough of them.

field and reconstructive surgery during and after wars. Reconstructive facial surgery gave birth to plastic surgery. And going to third world countries to perform surgery on malformed people such as children with cleft palates keeps surgeons on the cutting edge.

It will only get better as technology increases, and improvement are made.

And it has been ever since I was paralyzed (T-4 complete) in 1980.

Every year brings another advance that gives us hope. Christopher Reeves thought he'd be walking by the time he turned 50. I thought I'd be up and walking within 10 years of my injury. Thirty years later and I'm still waiting.

These "bionic legs" look cool, but I can see a host of problems with them. First is the problem of pressure sores. Since most paralyzed people are insensate in their lower limbs, it's impossible to tell if something is abrading the flesh away. Wheelchair athletes have these problems with equipment and it can often lead to months in the hospital recuperating.

The second concern involves balance. For someone like Mr. Hayden who appears to have a lower level injury (perhaps T-12) that's not a problem because of the presence of stabilizing trunk muscles. (Look at how low the back is and you can have an idea of the person's "balance" level.) When I stand in my standing frame I need extra equipment just to keep the upper half of my body from flopping over.

And lastly is the cost. In this country it's hard enough to get an insurance company to pay for a lightweight wheelchair or even a standing frame. It would be nearly impossible for most people to afford the $150K cost of this item.

I eagerly await the day that a true cure comes in the form of a treatment that allows a paraplegic/tetraplegic to simply use what they had before: Their legs. Sadly that day is too far in the future for me to ever have hope of enjoying it, but I have joy for those who will one day walk again.

That even looks good. But in time these will be implanted and the people will look normal.