The Scientist: “Next-Generation Exoskeletons Help Patients Move”
(2/1/18, The Scientist) “If they’re both lucky and well-insured, stroke patients get a few weeks of inpatient rehabilitation therapy, says physical therapist Terry Ellis, who collaborates with Walsh and directs the Center for Neurorehabilitation at the Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College. But with limited time, rehabilitation specialists focus on getting patients walking again in whatever way possible, often with the use of a walker, a cane, or a hard plastic 90-degree brace that keeps their weaker foot from “dropping” as they lift it off the ground to take a step. Many patients never learn to walk normally again, Ellis says. And because the plastic brace keeps the patient from being able to push off the ground with that foot—an essential part of the biomechanics of walking—the more that person walks, the weaker the ankle gets, and the more the foot drops, she adds. “We’re missing out. We’re not optimizing on the potential people have to improve.”
