Paralysis is a difficult condition that often leaves many facing physical challenges, both in terms of mobility and health, while also feeling emotional distress over having to depend on others. Over six million people are estimated to suffer from some form of paralysis, according to a study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

But epidural stimulation, an experimental method 30 years in the making, may soon lower this figure, having already restored some form of movement in five paraplegic men — and even greater improvements in their health and sex. The method is currently the focus of a study conducted by researchers from the University of Louisville and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Calven Goza, the latest of the five to give the technique a go, can now sit back and wiggle his toes and legs for the first time in two and a half years after a car accident left the now-26-year-old paralyzed from the chest down, according to CNN.

“He’s able to move both legs and both toes and ankles as well,” Claudia Angeli, a researcher in the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Louisville, told Medical Daily. “We were happy for him. The look in his face pretty much said it all.”

The spinal cord is responsible for transferring electrical signals sent from the brain to specific muscles in order to produce movement in them, but injuries to the cord can disrupt this transfer. Epidural stimulation consists of electrodes implanted around a specific area of the spinal cord, producing an electrical current that imitates signals sent from the brain and is transferred to targeted muscles to produce motion.

“We’re actually raising the excitement or awareness of the spinal cord,” Angeli said. “There has to be some residual connection between the brain and the spinal cord for this to work.”

Doctors implanted 16 electrodes around Goza’s spinal cord in late 2014 and then tested them out by asking Goza to perform the simple task of moving a string with his toe. The first two hours failed to produce any results until doctors decided to up the frequency of the voltage. The decision worked with a surprised Goza lightly wiggling his big toe to tug down on the string.

"It was pretty awesome," he told CNN. "I questioned it at first: Maybe it didn't actually happen, and I was just hoping it did."

Four other men previously received the same experimental implant in early 2014 with each participant responding successfully. But the implants have done more than just help restore movement. They have also increased greater control over blood pressure and bowels and even allowed some to be able to have sex, an act that paralysis in some cases can make impossible to perform. Seven more participants have been selected to receive the implant in 2015.

Angeli said that while the results are promising, the men are still unable to walk on their own, and that further research on the spinal cord and advancements in technology are needed in reaching that outcome.

“We still need to understand a little more about how the spinal cord plasticity is taking place,” she said. “We learn from every single individual we implant, and that’s helping us each time reach the objective a little quicker.”