There is a quiet “moon landing” for the stroke survivor community: Reach Neuro’s patented spinal cord stimulation device has been able to restore upper limb function to patients even 9 years after the initial stroke event, immediately restoring their ability to self-direct a spoonful of food into their mouth, and even sign their own name.

Restoring voluntary control of this magnitude has never been achieved before for stroke survivors. The innovation here is that the stimulation target is the sensory neuron, and therefore doesn’t try to force motor neurons to fire involuntarily. The brain is still in full control. Secondly, there is a personalized stimulation protocol for each patient that Reach Neuro has been optimizing in humans for over a year. While the results are incontrovertible, Reach is currently planning to test head-to-head against the best physical therapy regimen available (but we already know how this is going to end).