New Glenrose robotic treadmill helps debilitated patients walk

EDMONTON – A robotic-assisted treadmill, the first of its kind in Alberta, is being use at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital to help patients suffering from stroke, brain trauma, and spinal cord injuries walk again.

The $425,000 Lokomat has been used at the facility since October. The machine consists of a harness that holds a patient’s body upright and a device called an “exo-skeleton” that helps patients go through walking motions on a treadmill.

Previously, it would take two to three physical therapists to manually move the legs of a patient who has lost feeling and movement in their legs.

“Before this we would be crouching down, trying to control someone’s knees and hips so they don’t fall. And if they can’t handle their weight, the therapist has to stop them from hitting the ground,” said Andrew Kwok, a physical therapist at the Glenrose.

This means patients can have longer sessions than if they were relying on the strength of physical therapists to assist them with the difficult task of getting their legs to move again. It also means patients who have virtually no ability to move their legs can be given an opportunity to do so.

The machine has settings to control how much work a patient is required to do. The machine can be set to do all the work while the patient is going through motions to retrain the brain, or it can be set so the patient is doing almost all of the work, with the machine present for support.

Patient Maury Beer, 40, was working on the machine on Saturday morning. His typical sessions on the Lokomat last for about 30 minutes.

“It’s pretty tight … When it first starts, it’s kind of uncomfortable, then it adjusts into your crooks and crannies.”

Beer suffered from a spinal abscess – essentially an infection – in late September, which left him unable to stand. When he first got on the Lokomat, the machine was doing approximately 65 per cent of the work. Now, the machine is set to allow him to do all the work.

There are six such machines in Canada, but this is the only one that has been outfitted for use by children. It was purchased with funding from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.