Rehabilitation Matters

The PreventDFU Project

The Prevent DFU project is an interesting effort in diabetic foot care just launched by a European consortium.  The trans-European investigators hope to introduce novel technology for prophylaxis. The technique will aim to increase blood flow in the legs whilst users sleep and this may lead to a reduction in the number of people that develop foot ulceration. As the researchers point out, they only need to reduce the incidence of ulceration in a small percentage of patients to make this approach worthwhile.  The underlying technology was developed by Norwegian company Otivio.

Diabetic foot problems represent a massive global health issue and a great deal of effort is being made to prevent or at least reduce the incidence of foot ulceration.  Once foot ulceration has occured, there is a signifcantly higher risk of repeated ulceration with a corresponding impact on rehabilitation costs and quality of life.

 

Mark Pollock stands up with Ekso

I wrote about client Mark Pollock in an earlier article.  An adventure athlete, entrepreneur and author, Mark has competed against professional explorers like Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Olympic gold medalists and special forces personnel.  And he's done so in a world of total darkness.  For the last decade, Mark Pollock has been blind.  After his last expedition to be the first blind man to walk to the South Pole he fell from a window and became spinal cord injured.

I first met Mark in Stoke Mandeville and was pleased to work with him using FES to strengthen leg muscles - first with our RehaStim unit and eventually with a full RehaMove FES cycling system.

Mark is an inspirational guy who has impressed many people with his determination to push back the barriers of what we currently believe is possible.

On Mark's blog he recently posted a video of his adventures with the Ekso Bionics exoskeleton system.

The Ekso Bionics system is evolving rapidly from an original development project in Berkeley California aimed at "soldier enhancement".  This ground breaking technology is finding application in the world of rehabilitation and one day soon may become a practical choice for many persons with a physical disability.

Knowing personally some of the people working with Ekso Bionics, I have no doubt that this system will be the one to emerge as the acknowledged leader. 

Of course the technology is only part of what will make this a success - this development and its introduction must be made with a sensitivity to the expectations of potential users. 

Those of us who have worked in this field for decades can point to times when expectations were unfortunately far ahead of what could be achieved in practice.