Injuries

A complete spinal cord injury results, tragically, in total paralysis of all limbs and muscles below the injury site. But now, scientists at EPFL have demonstrated in mice a new gene therapy that can regenerate nerves and restore the ability to walk.

After an athlete has suffered a concussion, it's important that they wait until the injury has healed before returning to the playing field. A new headset is designed to let them know when it's safe to do so, by monitoring their "headpulse."

Smart textiles and patches are the near future of home health monitoring. The latest in this burgeoning field of medical therapies is one that impressively keeps an eye on your muscles in real time, helping with both injury recovery and prevention.

MIT scientists have developed a synthetic system that can stem internal bleeding, to help save lives after a traumatic injury. Two components come together at a wound to form a clot, without doing so elsewhere in the body where it might be dangerous.

Electrical spinal stimulation can help paralyzed people walk again. In a promising new clinical trial, scientists have identified the specific neurons being stimulated, and found that patients can still walk even after the implant was turned off.

While bone injuries such as fractures typically heal on their own, large sections of missing bone often never grow back, requiring bone transplants from other parts of the body. A new hydrogel, however, could help change that.

A torn meniscus, the cartilage in the knee, is a common sports injury, and unfortunately it doesn’t heal well. But researchers in Japan have now identified a hormone that helps repair the cartilage after a surgical treatment.

A torn rotator cuff can be debilitating enough on its own, but unfortunately once such an injury has occurred, it's more likely to happen again. An experimental new mesh could help keep that from happening, thanks to tiny pieces of graphene.

Tennis players are susceptible to wrist cartilage injuries, which may not even present any symptoms at first. A van-based MRI system was designed with that in mind, as it can spot such injuries right at the tennis court, before they become serious.

Tendon injuries are painful and don’t always heal properly. Researchers at the Terasaki Institute have now shown that silk scaffolds loaded with stem cells can help tendons regenerate more effectively.

Researchers at MIT have developed a handheld robot that can help minimally trained responders to control severe internal bleeding in victims of traumatic injury, by helping them insert a needle and catheter into a major blood vessel.

In what is being described as a world-first, scientists in Israel have reportedly grown spinal cord implants utilizing tissue extracted from human volunteers. Those implants were then used to restore walking abilities to previously paralyzed mice.