Courage Center Forest Lake, Minn, is the first site in the Midwest to offer the Interactive Metronome Gait Mate, which focuses on improving a person’s walking pattern, says the facility.

The IM Gait Mate is used to augment traditional rehabilitation approaches for children, adolescents, and adults with neurological and orthopedic conditions, brain injuries, and sport injuries, according to the Center. Gait challenges that can be addressed, such as stride length, heel strike, gait stamina, weight shifting, gait speed/timing, and quality of movement.

The Interactive Metronome has been used for nearly 10 years to assess and treat challenges in motor planning, sequencing, coordination, and balance. The IM Gait Mate takes this technology on the move by giving people the ability to work on these skills while walking. It consists of a wireless shoe insert that is activated when a person’s heel strikes the ground. A constant reference tone is heard through wireless headphones set to a desired gait speed; additional, real-time auditory feedback is given to direct the user if their speed is too fast, too slow or right on.

[Source: Courage Center]