Video Gaming Becoming The New Frontier Of Physical Therapy
Physical therapy has come a long way from patients lying on a mat and working on range of motion. Parkinson’s patients who are in physical therapy to regain balance and improve their coordination often use exercises like pedalling a stationary bike. Now, the Global Rehab in San Antonio, Texas have added bowling. Not with lanes [...]
Virtual reality for enhancement of robot-assisted gait training in children with central gait disorders.
The objective of this study was to examine the effect of various forms of training interventions, with and without virtual reality, on the initiation and maintenance of active participation during robot-assisted gait training. Ten patients (5 males, mean age 12.47 years, standard deviation 1.84 years) with different neurological gait disorders and 14 healthy children (7 [...]
Electromyography Is Feasible for Controlling Future Bionic Legs
Researchers at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) have shown that leg amputees posses enough neural signal to control the ankle and knee joints in a potential bionic leg that would detect electrical activity in remaining muscles. Before building a real prosthesis, the investigators used electromyography (EMG) on four amputees to control a virtual leg on [...]
Bionic Leg for Active Robotic Stroke Rehabilitation
A couple years ago Medgadget wrote about a powered knee orthosis from Tibion Bionic Technologies developed for people with muscle problems, arthritis, and those post surgery to regain missing strength. A potential use of the Tibion bionic leg that was considered in the past was to help those suffering from the residual effects of a [...]
Where Stroke Rehab Meets Robotics, Android and Gaming
How do you enhance brain plasticity in patients recovering from stroke, so to improve their motor functions? This is the question that Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Myomo, Inc., the maker of an upcoming mPower 1000 neuro-robotic arm brace, is trying to answer. By utilizing some of today’s technologies, the company is embracing new solutions to make stroke [...]
Effects of Virtual Reality-Augmented Balance Training on Sensory Organization and Attentional Demand for Postural Control in People With Parkinson Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
There is a lack of studies related to virtual reality (VR)-augmented balance training on postural control in people with Parkinson disease (PD). The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine the effects of VR-augmented balance training on the sensory integration of postural control under varying attentional demands and (2) to compare the results with [...]
‘Aspects of Anatomy’ iPhone App
Warwick Medical School has released an iPhone app of lectures by Dr Peter Abrahams that teaches clinical anatomy to anyone willing to spend £5. The new app, entitled Aspects of Anatomy, provides 38 short teaching videos using real, plastinated prosections of the lungs, thorax and the arm, from shoulder to hand. You can watch how [...]
Clinicians Share How They Use iPads in Practice
Last year Stanford medical school embraced the Apple iPad as a tool for students to use for learning and for interaction with patients. Recently the university hosted a workshop where students and clinicians shared their experiences of using the tablet computer on a daily basis. The group discussed what tools they used, including note taking, [...]
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