Robot Therapy's Clinical And Engineering Leaders Form EU-US Partnership

Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 16 Oct 2007 - 8:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Interactive Motion Technologies, Inc., global pioneer in clinically-proven upper-extremity robot therapy systems, and Reha-Stim, Europe's leader in cost-effective lower-extremity gait training devices, have joined their proven robotic therapy solutions for shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, ankle, and gait therapy.

For clinicians seeking clinical evidence to guide their adoption of therapeutic robots, today's agreement teams the industry's leading systems in terms of numbers of clinical trials conducted, and subjects studied. The benefits of IMT technology are evident with more than 400 stroke patients trained in the system, and of Reha-Stim's with more than 150. That's far more study patients than all other systems tested worldwide -- combined!

"As robotic therapy moves from the scientific to the healthcare community," says Neville Hogan, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and founding IMT partner, "it is essential that clinicians access robotic technologies known to effectively help patients overcome physical challenges." Adds Prof. Dr. Stefan Hesse, head of Klinik Berlin's gait laboratory and medical advisor to Reha-Stim, "what attracted our two companies is this shared sense that only with solidly-proven medical results can we expect rehabilitation professionals to embrace robotic therapy as an important, emerging standard of care."

Each company will now offer the other's products on an exclusive basis. IMT becomes the exclusive North and South American distributor of the Gait Trainer and home-based InMotion-Slide. Reha-Stim becomes the exclusive distributor in Europe of the InMotion family of therapeutic robots, including the InMotion2 Shoulder-Elbow Robot, the InMotion1 Anti-Gravity Robot, the InMotion3 Wrist Robot, the InMotion Anklebot, and the InMotion Hand Robot

The two companies will also collaborate on expanding their product family to maximize robotic therapy's effectiveness for a wide array of movement disorders including stroke, TBI, SCI, MS, and CP, and to continually refine the state-of-the-art for rehabilitation.

There is unequivocal evidence from clinical evaluations involving IMT and Reha-Stim technologies that interactive robotic therapy significantly enhances stroke recovery. These benefits reflect the intensity of training afforded by the robot, which far exceeds dosages traditionally administered.

Interactive Motion Technologies Inc., develops robot- and software-based rehabilitation solutions for persons suffering motor impairments. IMT's family of turnkey systems allows clinicians to focus on care, rather than technology, and patients to focus on recovery, rather than discomfort or pain.

Reha-Stim is a spin-off company of the laboratory of movement analysis and therapy at Klinik Berlin, Department of NeuroRehabilitation, Charité Berlin, with a long history in locomotor therapy. Reha-Stim offers cost-effective training devices world-wide for locomotor training and the rehabilitation of the severely affected upper limb after stroke. Products reflect clinical experience, and numerous controlled trials affirmed their effectiveness.

For further information please go to:
Interactive Motion Technologies Inc.
Reha-Stim

• Additional
• References
• Citations