Originally posted by taymas
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Instead, our brain simply says "walk over there" to the body. Pre-programmed reflexes in the spinal cord that every human is born with take care of the rest. Essentially, when someone wants to walk somewhere, all the brain does is turn on reflexes based in the spinal cord. That is what makes walking "involuntary". When I walk, I voluntarily decide that I want, but involuntary reflexes in my spinal cord determine how I walk.
It appears (and I haven't seen any data myself, but have been to a few of Wise's open houses) that the therapy that ChinaSCINet is testing is somehow capable of reconnecting the brain to these involuntary reflex centers in the spinal cord (the Central Pattern Generators). Thus, when one of the subjects is up in a rolling walker, they decide to take a step - then the muscles that produce that step fire "involuntarily", resulting in the leg getting pulled forward.
The other thing about walking is that it is not just dependent on the brain deciding to walk. In order for those involuntary reflexes to fire, there needs to be a LOT of sensory input from the body and the environment. There has to be weight bearing on the joints of the lower body, different limbs must be in different positions, etc. A combination of the brain deciding to walk, plus the body being in the correct position/alignment is what makes the body capable of stepping. It is actually completely different than what is involved with you trying to lift your leg up to put your socks on.
Hopefully you actually understand what I wrote. If you are simply sitting cross-eyed at your computer I apologize

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