This article has been taken from The Gen newsletter - Spring 2009. Click here to download the pdf.
A n innovative home device that will help stroke survivors recover the use of an arm was unveiled at the February meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) in Las Vegas.The device, and associated therapy, were co-invented by the University of Maryland (UMB) School of Medicine’s Jill Whitall and Sandra McCombe-Waller. Through a licensing partnership with UMB, US firm Encore Path Inc refined the invention into a compact, retractable and portable device called Tailwind. Kris Appel, Founder and President of Encore Path, learned of the UMB technology in 2006 when she was a student in the ACTiVATE programme at UMB.After licensing the device in 2007, Appel engaged Sagentia to help redesign the invention into the current Tailwind model and take it to marketable product. Sagentia’s design work included extensive voice of the customer research, working with stroke patients during the prototype validation, and ultimately designing a user-friendly device that can dramatically change the lives of stroke victims. The device works by bilateral training, as the seated patient uses both arms to push and pull handles on separate, or unyoked, tracks with minimal resistance. Whitall and McCombe-Waller came up with the idea for the arm therapy based on motor control and motor learning principles, as well as clinical experience with patients. They had previously studied gait therapy but thought there was a greater need for a new kind of therapy of the affected arm, particularly for those who were more severely affected by the stroke. Their invention can mimic natural human physical functions of the upper extremities in a variety of positions. Following Tailwind’s initial showing in Las Vegas, the unit will be launched to business and media at the University of Maryland later this year.
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