An Edmonton man is learning to walk again thanks to a high-tech robo-suit.
Staff at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital unveiled the new Ekso GT exoskeleton that they've been using in recent months to help patients that are partially or completely paralyzed from the waist down stand and walk again.
The Glenrose got the roughly $100,000 robot suit last year thanks to cash from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, said foundation president Wendy Dugas.
"It's fairly new technology," she said – the Glenrose was one of the first two hospitals in Canada to get one of these suits.
With a whir of electric motors, outpatient Shawn Gunn used the suit Thursday to rise from his wheelchair and take a slow, cautious walk around the rehab room at the Glenrose.
Gunn, 23, says he broke his L1 vertebra – a spine bone in the lower back – a few months ago.
"I went merging onto the Yellowhead and I started fish-tailing," he said of the crash, which happened after heavy snow and rain.
His truck hit the ditch and rolled four times flinging him from the driver's compartment and rolling over him in the process.
"I'm pretty lucky to be alive, I'd say."
The crash left him partially paralyzed from the waist down. After months of therapy, he can now walk with the aid of crutches and braces.
Gunn said he was pretty excited when he heard last April that he'd be able to work with the new Ekso suit.
"Being able to stand up and walk around sounded awesome."
Iron Man Mk. 0.1?
About 31 patients at the Glenrose have used the Ekso suit so far, said Karen Benterud, a physiotherapist at the Glenrose who is working with Gunn and the suit.
The suit consists of a harness, an onboard computer, multiple electric motors and two sensor-packed footplates. When a patient in the suit shifts his or her weight, sensors in the footplates swing the appropriate leg forward or help the person sit down or stand up. Therapists can tweak the suit's movements to fit each patient.
Right now, Gunn said his legs go all over the place when he walks with braces since he doesn't have full control over his muscles.
"In this (suit), when I go take a step, it's perfect," he said.
"It's re-teaching you how to walk."
The suit doesn't let its wearer fly, throw cars or shoot laser beams like the fictional Iron Man armour, Gunn confirmed. It's not particularly fast, and it doesn't work on stairs or steep slopes.
"It helps you walk, walk slowly."
Exoskeletons are part of a new high-tech trend that's sweeping physiotherapy, said Jim Rasa, an engineer and rehabilitation technology consultant at the Glenrose who lives in St. Albert.
"The robotics really allow us to work on the repetition," he said, letting patients practise moves like walking far more than they could under traditional physiotherapy, which would have a therapist moving a person's limbs by hand.
Exoskeletons like this one also let people paralyzed from the waist down stand and walk, helping to improve their core body strength, digestion, and self-esteem, he said.
Hospital staffers are now evaluating the suit to see how it improves patient health, Dugas said. If it works, these suits could become standard issue in hospitals across Canada.
"It's very exciting for patients that are paralyzed, that have a loss of mobility, to be able to stand up and walk."
Gunn said his leg strength has improved a lot since he started using the suit in April. He can now do about 1,500 steps in it in an hour, compared to just 100 when he first used it.
"It definitely takes practise."
Gunn said it will be years before he knows if he will be able to walk unassisted, as it will take his nerves time to heal. Still, he seems optimistic.
"You've just got to play the waiting game."
