Up to 10 patients will participate in the clinical trials using neuromodulation to try to re-connect the spinal cord to the brain to bring back mobility and other functions.

Professor Bryce Vissel, head of the Centre for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Technology Sydney was in Orange on Wednesday for an information and fund-raising night to explain how it was progressing. About 100 people attended.

He was brought to Orange by Dr Steve Peterson, who suffered paraplegia after being hit by a car while riding his bicycle to work at Orange hospital last year.

Professor Vissel said he and his team were developing the work with researcher Dr Reggie Edgerton who published his first paper on the subject in 2011 from the US. Professor Edgerton is now in Australia at CNRM part time.

He said Professor Edgerton's research indicated that, in even in the worst cases of spinal cord injury, some connectivity between the spinal cord and the brain might remain intact.

"The nervous system has this tremendous capacity to adapt and to recover if it is given the right tools," he said.

The procedure works by placing a device on the spinal cord, to amplify signals being sent across the damaged area and spark voluntary action.

"If you apply the neuromodulation to the spinal cord, you elevate the spinal cord's ability to hear the very faint signals that are coming through from the brain to the spinal cord where there is little bit of connectivity left," he said.

"Edgerton likes to talk about this as a hearing aid to the spinal cord. The spinal cord can now hear the very, very faint signals and now that it hears the faint signals, you can start to do a bit of movement.

"Once you can do a bit of movement the spinal cord knows what to do, it just needs a bit of instruction from the brain."

He said that could be the start of a long and steady program of recovery.

Professor Vissel said through the plasticity, or the changing ability, of the nervous system the connection became stronger.

He said Professor Edgerton's team had been able to achieve some recovery of functions including people being able to use their hands.

"The first patient that was done, 10 years later is still getting better," he said.

Professor Vissel said he wanted to concentrate the tests on hand, chest and trunk functioning.

The centre is also developing ground breaking work in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's that Professor Vissel expects will also see profound benefits for patients in time.