New Physiotherapy Technology: Safe Gait USA: Physiotherapy Makes
a Man & a Women Walk who were told that they can never walk:
Case 1:
When Mark Landers was told he'd never walk again, he looked for a way to beat
the odds. Then, he was asked to test out a new medical technology called
Safe Gait, and suddenly, the impossible was within his reach.
Mark left the hospital three months after a day that would change his life
forever.
"They say I was rubbing my chest, and rubbing my leg, and I didn't know.
They thought I was having a heart attack, because I was in perfect
health," he said.
It was a tear in his heart valve called an aortic dissection. All of his
right leg, and part of his hip had to be amputated. He was told he'd
never walk again.
"The nerves had died, they just didn't think it was a possibility,"
said Mark's wife Michelle. ...or so they thought.
"Mentally, your brain needs to tell you to take that first step in order
to walk again," Mark said.
However, the body needs a boost. and Mark is getting it from new technology
created right in our backyard called Safe Gait. Mark was one of the first
to use it here at Nazareth College.
"Using the system, we were able to do things we'd never done before, like
get rid of both crutches, barely holding on to my hands," said Dr.
J.J. Mowder-Tinney of Nazareth College.
It's a ceiling mounted race track, which attaches to a body harness to hold
Mark up. It lets him move 360 degrees, and therapists can adjust the
level of support.
"I didn't have to worry about crushing the PT, and falling and hurting
myself, and going back into the hospital," Mark said.
This breakthrough didn't come from a medical research lab. It came from
Gorbel Inc., a local company that makes industrial cranes. One employee's
daughter suffered a brain injury, and believed the same technology they make to
lift heavy equipment could be used to lift people in therapy.
"That so aligns with what we can do from a technology standpoint.
That even better aligns with how we can improve people's lives,"
said Brian Reh, President & CEO of Gorbel Inc.
It has for Mark. "To come as far as he's come is nothing short of a
miracle," Michelle said.
Now Mark's eyes are on the next big goal - a first dance at his daughter's
August wedding - and maybe even one more miracle...
"My goal is to be able to walk down, walk her down the aisle, and hand her
to her new husband," he said.
Case 2: At 59, Beth Ruckert is learning to walk
again: Illness and injury have weakened or destroyed considerable function in
her legs, and the Perinton resident is working to retrain muscles that still
respond.
Secure in a harness that was attached to an overhead rail
and guided by a computer program sensitive to her every movement, Ruckert
leaned less heavily on her walker as she stepped deliberately through a lap
around a physical therapy clinic at Nazareth College.
“It feels good to be on my feet,” said Ruckert, who uses a
wheelchair to get around. “Having the support of the device was really great.”
Ruckert is among the first people to use SafeGait 360°
Balance & Mobility Trainer, a bodyweight support system from Gorbel
Medical, a division of Gorbel Inc., the Fishers, Ontario County, company known
for its overhead cranes.
The idea came from an employee, whose daughter had been in
an accident and went through painful gait and balance rehabilitation. The
employee suggested a way to adapt the company’s lifting technology to prevent
falls among people going through physical rehab. Through another connection,
Gorbel started working with Nazareth.
SafeGait was more than two years in development and
installed in November for Nazareth’s pro-bono neuromuscular physical therapy
clinic. The system hits prime time next week when Gorbel Medical displays
SafeGait at a meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association in
Indianapolis.
More than 10,000 physical therapists attend the event,
according to the association web site. While Gorbel Medical cannot take orders
during the convention, the company has a goal of selling 30 of the devices by
the end of the year, according to medical division general manager Betty Dolce.
The device costs $160,000. Already two have been ordered:
Strong Memorial Hospital and Monroe Community Hospital are expected to install
SafeGait within the next couple of months. The system was developed with input
from Nazareth College, the University of Rochester Medical Center, MCH and Ohio
State University.
“We’re pretty excited about the concept and the technology,”
said Dr. Bradford Berk, the former chief executive officer of the University of
Rochester Medical Center who left that post to start the Rochester
Neurorestorative Institute at the Medical Center.
“This kind of device and technology is really what’s going
to revolutionize rehabilitation for patients with neurological problems,” said
Berk, who met with Gorbel executives while SafeGait was in development. “What
they’ve done is create the very beginning of a device that’s all about new
approaches to understanding gait and locomotion.”
Berk, who sustained a spinal cord injury in a 2009 bicycling
accident, said he has not used SafeGait. “Once we get it here, for sure I’m
going to go ahead and hook myself up.”
SafeGait has to be registered with the Food and Drug
Administration, but the federal agency does not have to approve its use, Dolce
said.
Gorbel promotes SafeGait as a safe way for people recovering
from stroke or traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, neurological
disorders or amputations to regain mobility. The harness wraps around each of
the user’s upper thighs and the torso. Seatbelt-style straps attach that
harness to what looks like a coat-hanger, which in turn is attached to an
overhead device called an actuator.
Other bodyweight support systems are available. One made by
Los Angeles company has been in use for several months at the Golisano
Restorative Neurology & Rehabilitation Center at Rochester Regional Health
System’s Unity Hospital.
Dolce said what separates SafeGait from the other systems is
software that automatically adjusts to downward movement. The program knows
when the person wants to sit and when the person is falling, and it adjusts
tension on the strap attached to the actuator until the person is steady. Once
under control, the person can continue.
The software tracks the person’s progress in a session and
over time, making it easier for the physical therapist to document progress
when seeking continued coverage from health insurers, Dolce said. It also
allows for customized treatment plans.
Additionally, the software factors in the user’s height and
weight, and it can provide support for 50 percent of that weight to make
movement more or less challenging. Those specifications are communicated with
the actuator as the person walks, steps up and down, sits and stands.
SafeGait also reduces the risk of injury to physical
therapists, who otherwise would have to steady or catch a person about to fall.
The apparatus means a therapist can work one-on-one with the individual, rather
than having additional therapists in case the person faltered.
J.J. Mowder-Tinney, associate professor of physical therapy
in charge of the adult neuromuscular course, said the apparatus boosts confidence.
She has seen individuals afraid to stand up and take a few steps, but “put them
in a system like this and now they can do it.”
As Mowder-Tinney put Ruckert through her paces Thursday for
the first time in the SafeGait, she noticed the woman putting more weight on
her legs, rather than using her arms to move her walker.
At one point, Ruckert was using her left leg to push away an
object.
“She was cheating all over the place,” Mowder-Tinney said.
“In this system, she’s starting to use the leg muscles she hasn’t been using.”
Mowder-Tinney said the apparatus allows clients to work harder, do more
repetitions and see quicker results.
Ruckert had trouble describing the feeling of being
supported in the harness as she walked. She had better luck explaining the
results.
“My mobility already is better,” she said. “I’m still
flabbergasted. … There’s increased confidence when you see how much you can
improve. The body does relearn. It gives me more confidence I will be able to
be more mobile.”
Anything's possible!
Safe Gait has been tested at Nazareth College, Monroe Community Hospital, the
University of Rochester Medical Center and other local hospitals. It
makes its national debut next week.-Update by Physiotherapy Jobs Portal.
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