Exoskeleton helps former Canadian soldier walk again

A former Canadian soldier who survived a debilitating brain injury while on duty in Afghanistan in 2006 has recovered his ability to walk again with the help of a customised exoskeleton.
Trevor Greene was told he would likely never walk again after he suffered a brain injury when a teenage boy attacked him with an axe, cracking his skull.
Greene survived but was left unable to walk. He began working with Ryan D'Arcy, a neuroscientist and professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University, in 2009.
D'Arcy asked Greene to partner with him in a research project to explore how brain plasticity affects motor functions.

Plasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganise its neural pathways and synapses in response to different behaviours, thoughts or emotions.
The two have since met regularly for D'Arcy to collect functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of Greene's brain to track how the brain rewires itself.

In an article published in The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, D'Arcy and his research team have challenged the current assumptions that after a traumatic brain injury, any further recovery ceases to happen over the long-term.
His team discovered physical functions can be recovered through rehabilitation even six years after an injury.
In 2014, D'Arcy called on Carolyn Sparrey, an assistant professor in the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering (MSE) who has extensive experience in biomechanics, to see if she could customise an exoskeleton that would suit the unique requirements of the 6 feet 4 inches tall Greene.

Exoskeletons are typically designed for those with spinal cord injuries as an assistive technology providing lower leg movement.
Sparrey notes that this is the first time exoskeleton technology has been used for a person with a brain injury.
Today, Greene is able to walk upright with assistance, outfitted with a custom-made exoskeleton from Israel-based company, ReWalk. In the future he plans to walk unassisted.
Ultimately, he says his goal is to make it to Everest base camp.
The motorised exoskeleton has been customised so that Greene can wear the battery pack as a backpack.