Armeo - robotic rehabilitation therapy for neurological movement disorders
About a year ago I had a chance to use this piece of equipment for about 20 minutes and it was challenging, fun, and with more time most likely effective. For those of you that don't know me I'm a C - 3, 4 incomplete quadriplegic. July 21st, 2010 will be my 12th year of paralysis, I have slight signs of muscle control in my biceps and triceps but nothing else below my shoulders. When I try to explain the Armeo and the feeling I say it gave my arm the feeling of weightlessness so the slightest muscle movement could be seen. I was able to move my right arm up and down with my shoulder muscles, push my arm forward and backward and the most impressive part to me side to side. One game was a 3 dimensional room and the object was to clean the white areas of the room with a sponge. There's a short clip in the video. To clean the room you need to be able to use all the movements I mentioned earlier, up and down to get the walls, forward and backward to get the sponge from the front of the room to the back and side to side to get the ceiling, floor, and back wall, very challenging. Another game I tried was catching water drops in a pail. That one worked more with the side to side movement. Another game that was hard but fun was the go-cart driving around, another short clip in the video. With this game pushing forward was the gas and side to side to steer. I'm sure this equipment isn't cheap but it sure would be nice to see at physical therapy rehabilitation centers around the world. Check out the video and give us your thoughts on it. Have you seen or used Armeo? Does it look like something you would use for physical therapy sessions? Will you buy me one? hahaha