A team of scientists is preparing for the final stage of development in a 4-year endeavor to create a new rehabilitation device for patients with lower leg injuries.
The scientists, from South Ural State University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Institute of Sport, Tourism and Service, are led by Aleksey Petrov, a professor at the SUSU Department of Electronic and Computing Machines.
“We have developed a mechatronic rehabilitation device for people with lower limbs injuries. This technology has a name of continuous passive motion,” says Petrov, according to Healio. “Our aim is to make one’s lower limb again movable.”
The device is designed for use in cases of rehabilitation following knee or hip joint injuries. The device involves motion of every joint in the lower leg, including the ankle, giving the patient the ability to imitate proper walking movement patterns. Additionally, the device has the application of teaching patients afflicted with infantile cerebral palsy to correctly walk.
A patient’s rehabilitation using the device will begin 2 days after the initial surgery, with the leg fixed in the device and forward movement applied, creating motion in the ankle-joint on two planes. Limb movement is assisted by motors that align elements in the device’s system with the movement required for rehabilitation.
As one of the main functions of the device is to teach the movements required in walking, it could also be applied to teach the complicated movements required to play sports. This device helps to work out a stereotype of step position and in doing so, improved skiing techniques, Healio continues.
[Source: Healio]
