A Revolutionary Spinal Cord Injury Therapy with Augmented Reality and Walkbot Robot Technology

Spinal Cord Injury or SCI is an injury or damage in the spinal cord. The injury is caused by a variety of reasons such as first hand trauma to that nerves, damage on the bones as well as soft tissues of vessels that surrounding the spinal cord, polio, motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, industrial accidents, and many more. The common effect of this injury is the loss of function such as mobility and feeling. The good news is that there is a revolutionary spinal cord injury therapy known as Walkbot. Let’s check how this technology works to help people with spinal cord injury.

About Spinal Cord Injury 

You might suffer from one of two spinal cord injuries. Those are the complete Spinal Cord Injury as well as the incomplete Spinal Cord Injury. A person who is suffering from a complete Spinal Cord Injury loses his or her ability to feel and move. On the other hand, the incomplete Spinal Cord Injury happens when a person still can move or feel but it is not just like a normal person.

Spinal Cord Injury Symptoms

Spinal Cord Injury symptoms are various and it depends on the injured spine and extent of the injury. Let’s say, if the injury is on the skin innervated through the part of that spine it is known as a dermatome. The symptoms are pain, numbness, or loss of sensation around the injured areas. You may feel a tingling or burning sensation in the skin around the injured area. Even, you will have a difficulty to move if the Spinal Cord Injury is affected muscles through the part of that spine or known as a myotome. In some cases, you will also lose control of your legs, hips, genitourinary system, and anus. 

Spinal Cord Injury Diagnosis

You have to go to the doctor if you feel those symptoms above. Later, the doctor will diagnose you by using X-ray, CT scan, or MRI which is known as a radiographic diagnosis. This diagnosis is used to know whether there is damage to the spinal column as well as the location if there is any. Moreover, you also have to take a neurological diagnosis. This diagnosis is used to determine the impairment degree. It helps to analyze the improvement during the early stages of treatment. 

Spinal Cord Injury Treatment

After all the hospital treatments, a person with Spinal Cord Injury has to follow extended treatment. It is known as a rehabilitation process. It takes 3 to 12 months along with regular medication and evaluation. The focus of the rehabilitation process is to make sure that the patient can do his or her daily activities well. They can walk to do anything alone without any help from devices or people. Moreover, they can also get back to work just like before. 

Another Spinal Cord Injury treatment is by taking a Spinal Cord Injury therapy. One of the revolutionary SCI therapy is by using a robot known as Walkbot. The detail above Walkbot and the way this device helps people with Spinal Cord Injury will be explained below. 

About Walkbot 

Walkbot is a gait training rehabilitation system along with robot technology. This technology is not only used to treat spinal cord injury but also a variety of diseases such as stroke, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and many more. The main function is to help patients walking again along with regular therapy. The system works along with the help of a hip, knee, and ankle joint drive motor to gain fast recovery. Walkbot is suitable for adults and children who are suffering from spinal cord injury. This device has achieved certifications including CFDA, US FDA, ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and many more. 

Furthermore, this walking therapy device has been introduced in several prestigious events in several countries. Those events are including Arab Health 2018 in Dubai, UAE, MEDICA 2018 in Dusseldorf, Germany, China International Medicinal Equipment Fair in Shenzhen, China, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Annual Assembly in New Orleans, USA, and many more. It shows that Walkbot is one of the most reputable and effective devices for Spinal Cord Injury Therapy. There is an official website for those who want to find further information about Walkbot.     

The Benefits of Using Walkbot for Spinal Cord Injury Therapy

Walkbot is a suitable technology for Spinal Cord Injury therapy because of some reasons. First, the technology is designed based on the kinematic study. The kinematic study helps to design the machine to gain accurate gait mechanism for fast recovery. As a result, patients have a bigger hope to walk again normally. 

Second, due to the design and system applied to the product, Walkbot has the most natural gait pattern. It helps patients to walk again normally without any difficulty. Third, the design supports the patient to get walking therapy in the right way without foot drop or toe dragging. It also boosts the result after training. 

Fourth, Walkbot can be said as a smart machine because it knows the need of the users. By the time the parts are attached to the patient, the system will control the walking speed and hold the hip, knee, and ankle joint perfect. Fifth, it is also an interactive machine along with a cheer up pop up appears on the screen. While doing the therapy, patients have a positive spirit and motivation to walk again. Sixth, Walkbot is not only designed for walking therapy but also any other movements. It depends on the achievement during therapy, patients will get a variety of therapies such as soccer ball kicking and any interactive games to boost the neuromotor. The process looks real and comfortable with the help of the 3D Augmented Reality. It is believed that Walkbot helps people with SCI to walk normally faster than any conventional therapy along with more comfortable treatments. 

Spinal Cord Injury Therapy with Walkbot 

Applying spinal cord injury therapy with Walkbot is simple and effective. A patient is attached to the machine. Then, he or she has to follow 1 training session. 1 training session consists of 1000 steps and they have to do it 10 times. The patient will be guided by 1 therapist to control and set the robot system. The robot system will guide the steps so the patient correctly can do the movement just like when they walk in normal condition. The result depends on the condition of the patient and also the therapy they do. The patient has to do the therapy regularly until they can walk normally without any walking devices.      

Types of Walkbot Device for Spinal Cord Injury Therapy 

There are three types of Walkbot devices to help people. One of them is known as Walkbot_S for adult only. This type of device is used for people who are suffering from Spinal Cord Injury. The device covers all things that people with Spinal Cord Injury need such as how to get the function of their leg back, the way to strengthen legs, how to walk naturally just like normal people, and even motivation to keep patient focuses on the therapy to get a maximal result. 

Besides, the manufacturer also designing a Walkbot_K for children only. This device is suitable for 86 cm to 148 cm children who need to do the walking treatment.

The third Walkbot_G device is designed for the gait training system. It is used for walking therapy for adults and pediatric patients, especially for those with neurological or musculoskeletal impairments. Those devices help general hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, geriatric hospitals, industrial accident hospitals, elderly welfare facilities, including university hospitals. 

Conclusion 

From the information above, we can conclude that there is a significant development in Spinal Cord Injury therapy, especially with the rise of Walkbot. By using Walkbot hospitals can give better SCI therapy for their patients. The therapy is better and more comfortable than conventional therapy models. One thing for sure is that the patients have a bigger chance to walk normally just like before. The time to do the therapy is also faster due to the sophisticated system and features attached to the Walkbot. The best part of using Walkbot for Spinal Cord Injury therapy is that it helps a patient not only to do the therapy but also boost their positive mind to achieve their goals. It can be seen from the sophisticated design similar to the feet. The system monitors the step to make sure that the patient walks correctly during the therapy. There is also a cheer up pop up which help to boost the positive feeling of the patient so they can continue the therapy with optimism feeling. This combination is an important thing in Spinal Cord Injury therapy to get the best result in which the patient can walk normally just like before without any walking devices anymore. In the end, it might be an efficient and effective device not only for the patients with SCI but also for medical institutions which want to offer a better Spinal Cord Injury therapy.

Keywords: robotic-assisted gait training; Spinal Cord Injury; walkbot; stroke; rehabilitation robot; Exoskeleton gait training system;