Category: Exoskeletons

Mobility: many of us take it for granted. But when you don’t have it, you realize just how lost, inadequate, and frustrated you feel.

People lose mobility due to many reasons, but stroke is a big one. Stroke is the top cause of serious long-term disability in this country, affecting 17 million Americans every year. More than one million survivors suffer functional limitations in daily activities as a result of their stroke, with more than 50 percent of stroke survivors having long-term walking impairment. Such impaired ambulation is associated with an increased risk of falls, limited social participation, and overall lower quality of life.

As many as 80 percent of stroke survivors have considerable gait deficits, including asymmetrical walking patterns and reduced walking speeds, thereby limiting their capacity for ambulation. Exoskeleton suits designed for mobility enhancement can correct these gait deficits. That’s a good thing, as nearly 40 percent of stroke survivors have moderate-to-severe impairments that require special care, while 10 percent more are admitted to long-term care or skilled nursing facilities and classified as unlikely to walk again.

Exoskeleton suits can also help individuals with spinal cord injuries gain some mobility, which could improve cardiovascular health, slow the loss of fat tissue, build lean muscle mass, improve bowel function, and aid in pain management. About 291,000 people in this country are living with spinal cord injuries at any one time.

For people who have experienced strokes and spinal cord injuries, it can certainly be tough to get around. But now, exoskeleton suits are helping these patients regain some of the mobility they have lost. Exoskeleton companies such as Ekso Bionics are paving the way for revolutionary advances in the rehabilitation field.

Helping With Mobility After Stroke

Exoskeletons give people who have had a stroke more opportunity to build up muscle strength and enhance range of motion. The long-term goal of rehabilitation is for the patient to be successfully reintegrated into the community, with recovery of walking ability as the top functional objective. This is achieved through task-specific, progressive, repetitive training based on the principles of motor learning. With targeted rehabilitation, the hope is to reorganize the brain to relearn skills that were lost as a result of the stroke.

Exoskeleton-assisted physical therapy is extremely promising for many people post-stroke. Tools such as these allow people to actively take part in their recovery while enjoying their life to the fullest.

Helping With Mobility After Spinal Cord Injury

Innovative devices such as those by exoskeleton companies like Ekso Bionics help individuals with spinal cord injuries gain some mobility when used in conjunction with physical therapy, training, and assistance from a caregiver.

One of the biggest benefits of an exoskeleton suit, of course, is that it allows people with paraplegia to walk again, having lost the brain function to do so. But this can come with many secondary effects as well. Being able to walk again is a huge stress relief for the individuals and their families. According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, those who are paralyzed are 2 to 3 times as likely to develop depression as the non-disabled are, with the highest risk of suicide occurring withinthe first five years of diagnosis. Caregiver depression is a related illness that arises from the stress of taking care of a person with paraplegia.

What Ekso Bionics is Doing to Help

Ekso Bionics offers a wearable suit, called EksoNR, which was developed exclusively for use in rehabilitation centers and clinical settings to help patients gain back their mobility sooner. EksoNR is the first exoskeleton FDA-cleared for stroke, brain injury, and spinal cord injury, designed to ensure the most natural gait by re-teaching the brain and muscles how to properly walk again.

In addition to helping patients with stroke, it can also help patients with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, aneurysm, hypoxia/anoxia, ischemia, and brain tumors.

EksoNR is currently being used in more than 270 rehabilitation centers around the world, under the guidance of trained personnel.

New technologies such as exosuits are increasingly making their way into rehab centers so that stroke and spinal cord injury patients can improve mobility.

Contact Ekso Bionics

To learn more about how robotic exoskeletons can aid in stroke mobility and rehabilitation, contact us at 510-984-1761.

While exoskeleton suits have been gaining notoriety in the industrial and manufacturing space to help workers perform repetitive movements without injury, they can also take the form of clinical robotics for rehabilitation. Paraplegics who have been told they will never walk again are staring that diagnosis in the face and resolving to get up out of their wheelchairs with the help of an exoskeleton suit. 

Wearable robotic exoskeletons and bionic suits are giving patients with paraplegia, as well as patients who have experienced stroke and brain injury, new hope. Years of research into practical real-world applications are now coming to fruition as these exosuits are being used in more and more rehab facilities. 

While some exoskeletons have long been used as an assistive device for those with paralysis, providing 100 percent of the power needed to walk, breakthroughs such as EksoNR by Ekso Bionics is one of the first rehab tools physical therapists can use to challenge their patients to make progress. It requires active participation, which is known to drive brain plasticity. This is the first exoskeleton FDA-cleared for acquired brain injury (ABI). 

EksoNR does this by promoting proper posture and a natural gait, so that therapists may focus on treatment. It’s an ideal solution for patients who have experienced ABI and stroke who are just beginning to walk, thanks to its high, rigid back and various progressive modes. It not only improves patient gait speed, it improves functional balance and walking distance outside of the device.

But even more than that, these suits are prolonging life. When patients are up and moving, rather than inactive in a bed or wheelchair, they’re being active, improving their overall health and enhancing their quality of life – not just for themselves but for their kids, spouses, and other family members. 

Bionic exoskeleton suits represent another step – quite literally — for robotics and wearable technology that can help paraplegics and other mobility challenged patients now and in the future.

How We’re Making Strides at Ekso Bionics

Ekso Bionics is a leader in the manufacture and application of exoskeleton suits for rehabilitation. In fact, we develop disruptive clinical robotics to address the loss of cognition and mobility, helping thousands of patients take more than 130 million steps thanks to technologies like EksoNR.

EksoNR, designed to assist patients in standing and walking during rehabilitation, aids clinicians in providing the necessary support to a patient’s legs. In turn, this device promotes correct movement patterns through all steps of recovery, challenging patients as they progress towards their goal of standing and walking again. In essence, these suits re-teach the brain and muscles how to properly walk again.

In a similar fashion, EksoUE assists a patient’s affected shoulder and arm throughout clinical rehabilitation. This was engineered for patients who suffer from upper extremity weakness or paralysis so they can recover endurance, strength, and range of motion.

How it Works

We can only speak for ourselves here at Ekso, but here’s what our EksoNR technology offers: 

• Data Capture: Session-specific walking times, distances, and symmetry data are saved to a secure, cloud-based dashboard for analytics. 
• Posture Support: Bearing their own weight with proper postural alignment, patients can maximize treatment time. 
• Clinician Control: Modify assistance levels and specify training targets in real-time for each leg based on patient goals and feedback. 
• SmartAssist Software: Customized motor support for varying impairment levels in both swing and stance walking phases, from patient-initiated movement to full assistance.
• Adaptive Gait Training: Sensors and software monitor and regulate leg movement to reduce compensatory gait patterns. 
• Pre-Ambulatory Tools: PreGait is a suite of programs to help patients weight shift, balance, squat, and step in place prior to walking.

Contact Ekso Bionics

Ekso is the most widely-studied exoskeleton for rehabilitation, with more than 1,800 patients participating in more than 100 investigator-led clinical studies. Learn how Ekso Bionics enhances patient experiences and functional outcomes across all levels of care. Contact us at 510-984-1761.

Stroke, the top cause of serious long-term disability in this country, affects 17 million Americans every year. More than one million survivors suffer functional limitations in daily activities as a result of their stroke, with more than 50 percent of stroke survivors having a long-term walking impairment. Such impaired ambulation is associated with an increased risk of falls, limited social participation, and overall lower quality of life.

Disruptive clinical robotics like those developed by Ekso Bionics are becoming mainstays in rehabilitation centers all across the country. In fact, our wearable technology has helped thousands of stroke patients take 130 million steps and counting, backed by a goal of rethinking rehabilitation: getting stroke patients to regain their full mobility.

After a stroke, the long-term goal of rehabilitation is for the patient to be successfully reintegrated into the community, with recovery of walking ability as the top functional objective. This is achieved through task-specific, progressive, repetitive training based on the principles of neuroplasticity and motor learning. With targeted rehabilitation, the hope is to reorganize the brain to relearn skills that were lost as a result of the stroke.

Exoskeleton Suits: Aiding in Recovery

Robotic exoskeleton suits used during rehab can help greatly with ambulation by providing earlier mobility and thus, restored independence. Such suits can enhance post-stroke gait training, guiding weight shifts, and improving step patterns and cadence. The end goal is to enable patients to stand up and walk earlier in the process than ever before. 

For gait rehabilitation after stroke, patients can don a wearable device such as a robotic exoskeleton suit with anatomically-aligned motors that offer assistance during ambulation. Therapy progression is a key part of rehab, and exoskeleton technology encourages progress and documents improvements. Ideal exoskeleton suits for stroke patients will include options for control of the lower limbs while facilitating pre-gait training, balance training, transfers, and stepping.

Another benefit to exoskeleton devices in stroke rehabilitation is the potential to empower, encourage, inspire, and motivate patients. Gait training sessions in the exoskeleton include meaningful walking time, which in turn boosts patient morale, enthusiasm, and motivation. The use of exoskeletons also results in increased steps per session, better gait balance, and symmetry, and improved functional independence.

As many as 80 percent of stroke survivors have considerable gait deficits, including asymmetrical walking patterns and reduced walking speeds, thereby limiting their capacity for ambulation. Nearly 40 percent of stroke survivors have moderate-to-severe impairments that require special care, while 10 percent more are admitted to long-term care or skilled nursing facilities and classified as unlikely to walk again. This is why the need exists for development of mobility-training strategies for survivors of severe stroke. Exoskeleton suits are a major component of that goal.

How Ekso Bionics Helps

Here at Ekso Bionics, we offer a wearable suit, called EksoNR, which was developed exclusively for use in rehabilitation centers and clinical settings to help stroke patients gain back their mobility sooner. EksoNR is the first exoskeleton FDA-cleared for stroke, brain injury, and spinal cord injury, designed to ensure the most natural gait by re-teaching the brain and muscles how to properly walk again. 

It is currently being used under the guidance of trained personnel in more than 270 rehabilitation centers around the world.

According to the CDC, each year, 795,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke, with 610,000 of those being first or new strokes; about 185,000 strokes (one in four) are repeat strokes. In many cases, stroke patients will get a few weeks of inpatient rehabilitation therapy, where rehab clinicians are forced to focus on getting their patients to walk again in whatever capacity possible due to the time constraints. This usually leads to the use of a walker, cane, or brace.

Stroke patients using wheelchairs are even worse off. They don’t get the support they need to work on their walking skills, plus, because they are sitting all day long, this impairs bowel and bladder function, reduces bone mass, and throws blood pressure off-kilter. An exoskeleton suit can put them in a load-bearing, standing position, which offers multiple benefits for proper bodily function.  

The sad reality is that many stroke patients never learn how to walk normally again. But the increased use of exoskeleton suits can help correct aberrant movements while increasing the pace of the user.

Contact Ekso Bionics

To learn more about how robotic exoskeletons can aid in stroke rehabilitation, contact us at 510-984-1761.