Restoration of walking in paraplegia by transferring the ulnar nerve to the hip: A report on the first patient.

There is no known way to make paraplegics walk when their spinal cord is completely transected. Many researchers worldwide have been developing different methods to solve this problem. We believe that transferring a sound nerve from the upper limb to the main muscles of the hip could help paraplegics to walk, although light orthotic devices would still be needed. We chose to transfer the ulnar nerve because it is the longest in the upper limb and can reach the glutei without grafts. In addition, palsy of the ulnar nerve can be repaired by classical reconstructive surgery. After many years of research in animals and after obtaining permission from the Ethical Committee of the National Health Surgery, we operated on three human beings bilaterally. The first patient is walking. Two are still recovering. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.