Jerrold S. Petrofsky was a professor of physical therapy at Loma Linda University in the School of Allied Health Professions.
[1] He is best known for his development while at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, of a portable computer system which stimulated the leg muscles of paralysis victims allowing them control of their lower extremities.
In November 1982 he rose to prominence when a student, Nan Davis, who had been paralyzed from the waist down for four years, was made able to walk using technology Petrofsky helped develop.
[2] Their story became the inspiration for the television movie First Steps.
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