EAST HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. --- In front of an audience at the Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital, Maddison Ryan, 19, took a walk.
That's not something that comes easy to her.
Maddison was diagnosed a little over a month ago with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a condition that damages the nervous system and hurts her ability to walk.
However, she can walk in short periods of times thanks to the "Ekso."
The Ekso is a battery-powered bionic exoskeleton that helps patients with lower body paralysis or weakness due to spinal injuries, strokes, or neurological.
"Think of it as a robotic set of hands for the therapist to use to help patients who can’t stand on their own, can’t walk necessarily at all or a lot of difficulty walking,” said Andy McGuigan, regional sales manager for ESKO Bionics.
The Ekso robot is programmed by therapists to match a patient’s needs.
“Then the patient is actually contributing their own effort to taking those steps. The robot is constantly monitoring their efforts and it’s either adding assistance or backing off the assistance automatically based on that patient’s ability to take those steps,” said McGuigan.
It’s a tool Allentown resident Kevin Oldt knows well.
“It’s like driving that perfect car you always wanted to buy," said Oldt.
18 years ago, a snowmobile accident left Oldt severely injured, including a broken spine.
He said he first walked with the Ekso five years ago.
“It’s like going to the gym. You want your biceps stronger? You keep doing curls. If you want your shoulders, you do shoulder press. It’s a muscle. It needs to be trained and the machine is a tool for me to train my muscles,” said Oldt.
He said he uses the robotic device three days a week.
He said his ability to move his knee or slightly kick his leg out are results he never thought would be possible.
For Oldt, fifting patients on their feet isn’t the only thing the Eksoo does.
He said it also lifts the patient's spirits.
“If you were sitting here like "Okay, I can wiggle my leg." I don’t look at it like a so-what. I look at it like it’s my first step. That’s where we go back to saying it brings you hope. There’s not a piece of equipment that brings hope back into you. The machine gives me hope again," said Oldt.
The $170,000 robotic exoskeleton is only available for rehabilitation purposes.
The Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital has one Esko device.
