A seven year old girl, Anna Good, gained strength to move around and pedal her tricycle after undergoing robotic rehabilitation treatment at the Robotic Rehabilitation Center at Riley Hospital for children in Indianapolis.
Anna, 7, takes a spin on her tricycle recently at her home. Anna has cerebral palsy. With robotic rehabilitation, she has improved grip, strength and muscle tone in her left hand, which she rarely used before, and she's walking better, too
The robotic rehabilitation centre at the Riley Hospital was inaugurated in September, and Anna was one of their first patients. The rehabilitation centre has the distinction of being the only centre in the country that uses three different robots for paediatric rehabilitation. Out of the three robots, Anna has used two of them. They help train her brain through constant and controlled repetition, which has helped her to improve her movements and endurance levels.
The rehabilitation centre concentrates on the clinical and research aspects of paediatric robotic rehab, in collaboration with the IU Department of Physical Therapy and Indiana University Health Rehabilitation Services. Cardinal said the centre is focussing on the rehab for patients suffering from cerebral palsy and other movement disorders with the help of multiple robots. The two robots Anna has worked on so far are the upper extremity robot, called MIT-Manus, and the lower extremity robot, called HocomaLokomat, which have helped her improve grip, strength, walking and muscle tone. Typically, the rehabilitation sessions span over eight weeks, during which they meet twice a week. Unlike the therapy given by a therapist, robotic rehabilitation is able to make the patient undergo 1,000 identical movements, which helps their brain to register movements better.
Through rehabilitation Anna’s condition has improved drastically as all of her limbs were affected by hemiplegic palsy, and her left side was quite weak. The Riley hospital also conducts summer camps which are centred on improving the strength of these children. While undergoing rehab with the HocomaLokomat, Anna is strapped to a harness and is made to walk on the treadmill. Her movements are linked with a video game in which she sees herself move closer to cows on the screen. She trains on the MIT-Manus robot to specifically improve the use of her left hand. The robot helped in guiding her hand as she tries to move a cursor on the screen.