Though only 40 exist nationwide at this time, a machine called the Lokomat is changing lives, and holds great potential for future therapy for patients with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.
Allowing users who have been paralyzed (or suffer from one of the above conditions) to stand and relearn to walk, the Lokomat holds great promise for those who can access facilities with the machine.
For example, 24-year-old Oklahoma resident and paralysis patient Jane Sholer had to travel to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for her therapy, and was only able to use it as part of a four-month research study. Luckily for those with cerebral palsy in Oklahoma, area citizens recently raised the $250,000-plus to get a Lokomat at the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health.
The Local News Story describes the machine as looking “like what would happen if a parachute harness and ski lift met a white bionic skeleton from a comic book.” To us, it looks more like a superhero costume!
We hope to see therapeutic machines like the Lokomat more accessible to people nationwide – as it could make great strides in the treatment of cerebral palsy!