LegTutor Uses Patient’s Own Stimulus in Therapy

Bioness Inc. today announced the company’s participation in the Paralyzed Veterans of America Summit 2011 and Expo, September 16 – 18, in Orlando, Florida. Paralyzed Veterans of America is a non-profit organization that serves US veterans with disabilities and their families.
Bioness will be showcasing its breakthrough NESS L300® Foot Drop System and the new NESS L300® Plus System, which was recently cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Both advanced rehabilitation systems use mild functional electrical stimulation, or FES, for the treatment of foot drop. Foot Drop, the difficulty or inability to raise the front part of the foot, causesdifficulty walking and instability for people who are in recovery from a stroke, or who are suffering from other central nervous conditions such as a spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury or multiple sclerosis.

Rather than use an external stimulation to achieve movement ability for sufferers of MS and other dibilitating diseases the newly developed LegTutor allows the patient to create his own stimulus to relearn tasks enabling him to move again at a normal pace.
The LegTutor™ system has been developed to allow for functional rehabilitation of the lower extremity. The system consists of an ergonomic wearable leg brace and dedicated rehabilitation software. The LegTutor™ system allows for a range of biomechanical evaluation including speed, passive and active range of motion and motion analysis of the lower extremity. Quantitative biomechanical data allow for objective evaluation and rehabilitation treatment follow up. The LegTutor™ rehabilitation concept is based on performing controlled exercise rehabilitation practice at a patient customized level with real time accurate feedback on the patient’s performance. The exercises are designed in the form of challenging games that are suitable for a wide variety of neurological and orthopedic injury and disease. The games challenge the patients to perform the exercise task to their best ability and to continue exercise practice. The system provides detailed exercise performance instructions and precise feedback on the patients exercise performance. Controlled exercise of multi joints within the normal movement pattern prevents the development of undesired and compensatory joint movement and ensures better performance of functional tasks.
Now in use in leading U.S. and foreign hospitals, clinics and rehabilitation centers and FDA and CE certified Tutor system can also be used at home through tele rehabilitation and are adaptable for children as well as adults.