Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network has immediate success with ZeroG

Source: Advance PT

Sue Golden, PT, NCS Director of Neurorehabilitation Technologies at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network in Allentown, PA is interviewed by Advance magazine on the immediate impact ZeroG made to their therapy program.

“We see patients here with stroke, spinal cord injury, head injury, vestibular issues, concussion, multiple sclerosis, cancer, Parkinson’s, movement disorders, really anything neurologic, as well as amputations,” said Golden. The facility implemented the ZeroG Gait and Balance Training System in December and saw immediate positive results.

“All of the programs that we develop here are based on neuroplasticity,” Golden explained. “We feel if you attack function from all angles, you give a person the best chance of recovery, no matter what that recovery might be. “You can determine how much weight you’re going to take off patients, as well as specify if you only want them to move in a certain parameter, for example to work on side-stepping or weight-shifting. Or you can open up the entire track and allow people to walk with or without a device. Again, we’re looking at the challenge of balance, proprioception, integrating vision, and the alignment for gait.”

ZeroG can be used for patients with stroke at lower or higher levels of function, added Golden. “You can work the core through lunges, treat patients with amputations, take a patient with incomplete spinal cord injury either with braces or without braces who might be starting a motor-control program. You can pre-gait, emphasizing sit-to-stand, and really focus on helping a patient become weight-bearing through an affected leg.”

ZeroG getting to standing

Golden has utilized the apparatus with a fairly severe stroke patient who tends to push frequently. “We were able to take away his assistive device because he wasn’t likely to fall, and we only allowed the tether to go a certain length so it would catch him if he did,” she said. “So he started taking steps while holding my hand and receiving directions on weight-shifting. He really began to trust his affected leg and walked the most he has since his stroke.”

Golden also recalled the success of the first patient who the therapy staff at Good Shepherd placed in ZeroG. “She’s in her early 20s and a couple years removed from sustaining her head injury. Since the accident, she hadn’t been able to stand on one foot. But within a couple minutes on ZeroG, she did and was just all giggles and smiles, saying ‘I can’t believe I can do this!'”

Treatment sessions at Good Shepherd typically last an hour, with about 45 minutes spent in ZeroG. “If patients need to sit down intermittently, we’ll have them do that in the harness,” Golden related. “And mind you, neither therapist was sweating today while we worked with the stroke patient. That was amazing, because I treated this man once by myself without ZeroG and I was definitely perspiring.”

“I think the equipment has been a wonderful addition,” Golden added. “We’re trying to promote function through every avenue, at every level for every person, while keeping them safe. To really increase their repetitions of being upright and moving. I believe this equipment is a great complement to our treatment, another tool in our toolbox to help people.”

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