14 DAY TRIAL // The research we've covered since our site's birth have touched on pretty much every possible facet of science, so we can't say that it's easy to find something that gives even us pause.
The Mobile Music Touch gloves come really close though. Some people at Georgia Tech created them for those recovering from paralysis induced through spinal cord injury.
That's right, in case some didn't know, medical science has advanced enough that more and more cases of spinal cord injury are curable.
Paralysis isn't so easy to shake off though. The body sometimes needs to be reminded of how it should respond and behave little by little.
The Mobile Music Touch gloves are a means to achieve this. One of their main roles is to vibrate constantly for several hours in order to stimulate recovery. During that time, owners can go about whatever business they have instead of focusing on specific exercises.
The reason for their name, though, is the ability of the mitts to pair with an electrical music keyboard and play notes by moving the associated finger.
As described in the embedded video, the song is first played all the way through and, afterwards, tapping the air with specific fingers will play the corresponding note. What's more, the glove will create tactile feedback through vibration as well.
The treatment supposedly has immediate results. Some patients reported that they could pick up objects and feel textures they couldn't before. Given that improvements don't appear until a year after sustaining the injuries, this is truly remarkable.
One explanation is that the vibration restores certain brain activity that would otherwise lie dormant for a very long time.
"After our preliminary work in 2011, we suspected that the glove would have positive results for people with SCI," said Ph.D. graduate Tanya Markow, the project's leader.
"But we were surprised by how much improvement they made in our study. For example, after using the glove, some participants were able to feel the texture of their bed sheets and clothes for the first time since their injury."
