Paraplegic Personal Gym
About this project
The solution replaces the bicycle mechanism with a system of ropes and pulleys in what we call the Paraplegic Personal Gym. A stand alone device Provide wide variety of exercises to strengthen different muscles of arms, shoulders, back, trunk, and chest. Using the energy of the exercises to move the paralyzed legs. The legs move in different patterns to serve different purposes. The device is a stand alone metal structure that functions as a gym for paraplegic patients. The device uses a system of pulleys whereby the patient can activate leg movements by utilizing arm muscles to pull on the ropes.
The challenge
The idea of this project is to develop a simple multifunction device that can be useful for moving parallelized legs and training the arms at the same time and can be affordable by patients. The challenge is a bycilcle for paraplegic patients for self exercise at home.
Who it helps
The need knower is a complete T4 paraplegic. The spinal cord injury was a result of Transverse Myelitis disease. It started in January 2017. He used to work as a software engineer and instructor at universities. Currently with the injury he does not go out often and works from home. He needs to have training devices. He is currently being treated in the rehabilitation department of Hadassa since March 2017. He was told to move his legs in a circular motion daily for at least half an hour. So he uses a passive electric device where he binds his legs for this motion. This device is too expensive for him to own at home. He also needs to maintain strong arms for the many functions in his daily life. So he spends time every day exercising the arms and time exercising the legs.
Project details
The build files for Paraplegic Personal Gym are free to download from this page - open source, shared by TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers.
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