This week, my colleague Jim Amesbury B.Sc.C.O.(c) and I had the opportunity to attend an advanced programming seminar on the WalkAide® System. Custom Orthotic Design Group Ltd. has been providers of the WalkAide® Function Electrical Stimulation (FES) System for the past year with great success.
The WalkAide® uses a gentle electrical stimulation to simulate the normal nerve signal to the muscles to create a "lift" of the foot for people who have "foot drop" due to certain diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis or impairments such as stroke or spinal cord injury. The nerve stimulation works in a cycle that is programmed for each individual to replicate the normal function during gait with variables such as speed, length of time of stimulation and amount of stimulation.
The extra training was an excellent opportunity for us to learn more about the updated software and to trouble shoot timing issues with the use of the WalkAide®. Although most of the programming that we have done already has made an improvement for our current patients' gait, there have been little changes that we would have liked to make, but until now we were unable. Now we can adjust many of the parameters to the fraction of a second. The new software along with the advanced techniques that we learned this week will allow is to fine tune the cycle even better for each individual to help create a smoother, safer gait.
If you are interested in further information regarding the WalkAide® System please check out the page WalkAide: Living With Foot Drop or our slide show on Slideshare at http://www.slideshare.net/CODG/walkaide-breakthrough-treatment-for-foot-drop.
