LegTutor Twice as Helpful in Bilateral Knee Replacement Therapy

As reported on NBC’s Channel 2 in Ft. Meyers, Florida on Oct. 4 the story of Chris Naylor is encouraging.
If one bad knee wasn’t bad enough, Chris Naylor had two. When her walk turned to a hobble, she sprang into action.
“It finally reached the point where there was enough crunching bone on bone that is was making life very difficult.”
Chris underwent a staged, bilateral knee replacement. The procedure resurfaces the knee joint, shaving away damaged cartilage and bone. Surgeons cap the resurfaced bones to keep much of the knee intact.
“The good parts stay; the ligaments and the muscles and tendons really; we keep as much of your own parts as we can,” says Dr. Ed Humbert, an orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System.
It’s not the surgery itself that solely determines success or failure. Once the surgery is over, the real work begins.
“Physical therapy with knee replacement is very, very important. Even the best implant or knee replacement put in properly and perfectly, if that patient did very little therapy can become very stiff and very painful,” says Dr. Humbert.
Chris approached her recovery with a sense of purpose, planning a trip to Disney within weeks of her last surgery. She jumped into physical therapy with both feet.
“The day of surgery you’re left alone, the following morning physical therapy starts morning and afternoon, the day after that you are released – it’s also morning and afternoon, you’re sent home, physical therapy calls that evening and they start coming into the home the next day,” says Chris.
“Therapy’s helping your range of motion, it’s progressing and getting your strength back and therapy’s also part in keeping the swelling down,” says Dr. Humbert.
The hard work paid off, Chris’ smile says it all.
“I went to Disney; we did all four parks in three days with two new knees, and I survived wonderfully.”
The rest of her was exhausted, but her rebuilt knees held up fine.
The LegTutor has become an integral part of post knee surgery therapy.
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 patient to perform the exercise task to their best ability and to continue exercise practice.
The LegTutor™ allows for isolated and a combination of knee and three directional hip treatment. 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.
The LegTutor™ system, which includes the HandTutor, ArmTutor and 3Dtutor, is used by many leading rehabilitation centers worldwide and has full FDA and CE certification. It is designed for children and adults and can be used at home with telerehabilitation.