With Willpower, and a Jolt of Electricity, Paralyzed Rats Learn to Walk Again

A new kind of rehabilitation restored voluntary movement to rats with severely damaged spinal cords

The rat stood on its hind limbs at one end of a narrow runway. It wore a tiny black vest attached to a robotic arm that hovered above its head. Without such mechanical support, the rat would have fallen over—its spinal cord had two deep cuts, rendering its back legs useless. Rubia van den Brand, then a doctoral candidate at the University of Zurich, stood at the other end of the runway, urging the animal to walk.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rehabilitation