|
MARQUETTE — With the aid of an ingenious therapy device available at Marquette General Hospital, Gary Stroud of Crystal Falls is making visible progress toward walking again following a near-fatal fall earlier this winter in his home.
A licensed contractor, the 52-year-old Stroud fell eight or nine steps down a narrow flight of stairs. The tragic accident left Stroud with a C 1-2 fracture in his neck, resulting in a partial spinal cord injury that left him unable to support his weight while walking.
To assist Stroud in his goal of regaining full use of his legs and arms, the Upper Michigan Rehabilitation Center at MGHS is using a new device called Lite Gait as part of his extensive therapy.
Lite Gait is a harness system used in conjunction with a conventional treadmill. The harness suspends the walker and controls balance while redistributing the patient’s weight. Patients with limited strength in their legs and arms are able to begin working on a treadmill before they’re able to support the full weight of their body. Patients are provided proper upright posture as well as balance and safety during treadmill walking.
The device is capable of lifting a patient weighing up to 500 pounds out of a wheelchair into an upright walking posture. The harness allows the clinician to manually assist the lower extremities and pelvis to achieve proper gait patterns.
MGHS Physical Therapist Faith Veley said the Lite Gait system can be used to treat patients with a wide range of impairments with different levels of severity.
“In Gary’s case, he couldn’t support his full weight walking for more than 20 feet,” Veley said. “With the Lite Gait system, we can work these muscles and make it less weight-bearing for him. He can sustain his balance and stay up without falling. This wonderful device gives him an opportunity to exercise longer on his feet with less weight on his legs.”
Dr. Frederick Maynard, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist on staff at Marquette General, said the rehabilitation team — consisting of the patient, a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, nurses, therapists and other professionals — work closely together to help patients regain functional independence.
An array of comprehensive services — including hands-on specialty care by a trained team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists and home health — are readily available at Marquette General to treat patients with spinal cord injuries.
Stroud said the Lite Gait system has given him hope that he will regain the function of his arms and legs.
“It’s a pretty good machine,” Stroud said.
The system features a special treadmill that can be operated to as slow as .1 mile per hour (mph), allowing patients like Stroud the opportunity to regain their strength without fear of falling.
“The trick is for him to get one foot in front of the other. This device gives him that opportunity,” Veley said.
For information on the Lite Gait system and the Upper Michigan Rehabilitation Center, call Veley at 906-225-3186 or 1-800-562-9753, ext. 3186.
Send Questions or comments to - JIM LAJOIE
Marquette General Hospital, 420 W. Magnetic Street, Marquette MI 49855
Questions - support@mgh.org
