A roundtable titled “Exorehabilitation – key directions and methods” took place online on 27 April. Representatives of the Skolkovo resident company ExoAtlet discussed opportunities with specialists on the adoption of exoskeletons into medical practice.
The speakers, which were comprised of rehabilitation physicians, shared statistics and videos with the participants, illustrating the effectiveness of exoskeletons. These types of training equipment are being adopted for recovering patients with multiple sclerosis, brain damage, stroke patients, cerebral palsy, and spinal injuries.
Rehabilitation therapist Alexander Kovalenko spoke about the positive dynamics in the recovery of patients with brain damage after training with the aid of exoskeletons. A number of them could in a matter of weeks approach the average indicator of a healthy person in terms of movement speed. Professor Sergey Kotov highlighted that he has patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, whose cognitive functions and the patient’s emotional state improved significantly. Specialists that rehabilitate teenagers with cerebral palsy also noted this.
Doctors confirm the efficacy of ExoAtlet exoskeletons. Image: Sk.ru.
With its limited number of opportunities, Bryansk Center of Medical and Social Rehabilitation for Children became one of the first medical institutions to use exoskeletons for rehabilitating patients. In the clinic’s practice, there is an example of successful work with patients with low rehabilitation potential. After ten exercises on the simulator, a teenager who could not move independently could already climb the stairs with the help of loved ones. A few more difficult patients saw improvements in their gait, involuntary movements decreased, and a rhythm to their step developed. The important result of the collaboration between the clinic and ExoAtlet company was the modification of exoskeletons for kids with cerebral palsy.
“Our main pride is that we as a team of developers – of course, thanks to the support which we got from Skolkovo and the NTI – is that we are able to create products within a given timeframe, get certified, start production, and enter the market,” said the co-founder of ExoAtlet Ekaterina Berezii.
In 2021, ExoAtlet gained certification for its “Bambini” and “ExoAtlet-II” products, which are for kids and adults respectively. Thanks to this, Russia became the second country after Japan where exoskeletons are guaranteed for use in state hospitals. ExoAtlet exoskeletons are already being used in over fifty medical centers in Russia as well as Asia.