Participants of a small clinical trial hit the news last week when a type of spinal cord stimulation enabled paralysed patients, Claire Trivedi (48) and Sarra Wilson (39), to regain some movement years after the initial injuries were sustained.

Claire Trivedi was paralysed from the waist down when a group of abnormal blood vessels burst in her spinal cord, causing a complete spinal cord injury. She went on to have great results from the medical trial, telling BBC News that "about 10 weeks before I finished the trial, I took my first steps just using a walking frame, without any leg supports. Everyone cried."

Sarra Wilson broke her neck when she was thrown from a horse and severed her spinal cord. The medical trial helped her regain the use of her hands, enabling her to read a book and play games with her children, as well as comb her daughter's hair. 

In an interview with BBC News, she said that "I obviously wanted to be the best mum I could be, but felt utterly useless at times, but I don't remember the last time I felt like that because I just feel like 'mum' now. It's really exciting for the future."

The study concluded that a larger scale trial would be beneficial. However, the absence of a control made it difficult to establish how much progress was down to rehabilitation exercises and how much could be attributed to spinal stimulation. 

The Pathfinder 2 trial involved 10 people (ages 21 – 68), with varying levels of spinal cord injury, with the aim of assessing new technology that works by stimulating the “dormant” spinal below the patient’s injury using electric pulses, using a device called ARC-EX, developed by Onward Medical. The pulses excited neurons so that signals weakened or interrupted by injury, could drive movement. 

Researchers said the improvements did not plateau, which suggested further benefits may be achieved with extended treatment.

Study co-investigator, Jenny Suggitt, said that "participants who have completed the study at this point are seeing changes in their motor function - so their standing ability, walking, core control and sensation changes, as well as changes to their autonomic function - so bladder, bowel and sexual function."

The trial was funded by Spinal Research charity and took place over more than a year at the Neurokinex rehabilitation facilities located in the UK.

Spinal Research chair, Tara Stewart, notes that "this therapy is not a silver bullet - it works on spared spinal tissue, so results will vary widely, and it does need to be paired with proper active rehabilitation over a consistent period of time."

Spinal Research is funding three other UK studies involving use of implantable and external spinal cord stimulation systems.

The results of the study were published in the journal Neuromodulation: Technology At Neural Interface. The study follows research focussed on upper body strength, which was published in 2024, external in the journal "Nature Medicine" which saw positive results.