Rome, here is How Paraplegics Return to Walking “ Let “S Take Four Steps;
All of A Sudden What Seemed Impossible Only a While Aug Has Become Possible. Those with paraplegia, or the condition in Which a person ’s Lower Body is affected by Motor Paralysis and/or Functional Deficiency, Can Walk Again Thanks to the Latest Advances in Technology Such As the Rewalk Exoskeleton and the "Let's take four steps" Project, An Initiative Spearheaded by the University of Rome ’S "Foro Italico".
Developed in September 2015 specifically thanks to its Foundation, which has always been attentive to social-health issues, the project aims to assist the University in the development of research and training in the field of motor activities, sports and mental and physical well-being in its broadest sense. The’goal is to enable people with spinal cord injuries to “take four steps” using a robotic exoskeleton, based partly on scientific evidence that walking upright, even if for a short time during the day, provides enormous physical benefits.
It’s important to emphasize that, nowadays, exoskeletons do not replace wheelchairs but make it possible to spend some hours of the day “standing” giving the user the ability to “look at the world at eye level”. ReWalk’s exoskeleton is the only one approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) even in the home setting. The project, in fact, is carried out inside a gymnasium and not in a hospital setting. This constitutes a new treatment opportunity because it is placed in a sporting and dynamic context, outside the traditional health rehabilitation context.
Through an approach similar to a "workout," an attempt is made to increase motivation to’exercise and to give people with spinal cord injury the opportunity to carry out motor activities comparable to that carried out by normally able-bodied people. Some of the benefits associated with regular training through the robotic exoskeleton are:
- improvement of trunk control, cardiovascular, respiratory, bowel function, and muscle strength (upper limb strengthening);
- Osteoporosis prevention and reducing the incidence of fragility fractures;
- Reduction of pain, body fat and healing of pressure ulcers.
The testimonials of those who, through this project, have used and continue to use the exoskeleton, have also highlighted psychological benefits of both returning to walking and being able to train and experience this as a group in a non-healthcare setting. To try the exoskeleton for free you can, by calling +39 333 7688321 or by going to the ReWalk Roma Center at the University Foundation “Foro Italico”, Piazza Lauro de Bosis No. 15 Rome. “Walking helps thinking. Letting oneself be guided by one's steps, even better if aimlessly, leads the mind to an elsewhere that becomes discovery” said Nietzsche, and the’intent of the Exoskeleton Rewalk project and “Let's Take Four Steps” is precisely to lead the mind and body of paraplegics “elsewhere” toward new and continuous discoveries.
