Learning to Walk Again

When someone suffers a stroke, he or she often loses some mobility, and some 60 percent of survivors are left with lower-limb deficits. “They usually have one leg that's more impaired than the other leg, and then they undergo rehabilitation and physical therapy. And often they don't fully recover,” said Conor Walsh, professor of engineering and applied sciences at the John A. Paulson Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, in an interview with MD+DI. But a new device called ReStore, developed by ReWalk, may help stroke survivors learn to walk better. ReStore is a powered, lightweight, soft exo-suit for use in gait training in people with lower-limb disabilities. The device has been submitted for review by the U.S. FDA and for review in the European Union. (Read our previous coverage of the prototype here.) ReWalk had previously received FDA clearance for its ReWalk Personal System, an exoskeleton for patients with spinal cord injuries. The patient wears the device in a waist pack, which holds two motors, each with a cable that goes down to the foot and ankle. The cables then extend to a foot plate under the shoe. Sensors clipped to the patient’s shoes detect motion and communicate to a smart phone controller when the user needs assistance in moving the foot. Using data analytics displayed on the smart phone, a ther...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Design Source Type: news