| Lite Gait boosts rehabilitation for children |
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| Wednesday, 17 June 2009 | |||
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Staff writer With her energetic spirit and bright, infectious smile – and barely weighing 60 pounds – it seems fair to say you’d see 12-year-old Hanna Maslowski racing up and down the hallways, climbing stairways and dancing in the sunshine.
These days, thanks to Kenny Kids Pediatric Rehabilitation Center’s new Lite Gait equipment, Hanna is taking steps toward further independence. Lite Gait, a metal frame on wheels, equipped with a weight-supporting harness, arrived at Kenny Kids’ Coon Rapids center last fall and is used in pediatric therapy two or three times each day, said physical therapist Sarah Leathers. “The Lite Gait is used in therapy for children with spinal cord injuries, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, neuromuscular diseases, spina bifida...it really has been so valuable for pediatric patients,” said Leathers. Lite Gait was purchased for Kenny Kids using funds provided by Mercy & Unity Foundation’s Crystal Ball fund-raiser, said Kenny Kids coordinator Sara Rohde. Here’s how Lite Gait works for Hanna: • Hanna rolls into Kenny Kids rehab center then lies down on a padded bench and removes her pink-sequined shoes. • Therapist Leathers gently stretches Hanna’s hamstrings. “So she can take some nice big steps,” Leathers said. • Leathers slips knee-high stockings onto Hanna’s feet and lower legs, then outfits her with specially-braced shoes. • Next, Leathers wraps a harness around Hanna’s torso, attaching the harness to the Lite Gait using seat belt straps that are clipped into the device’s metal frame overhead. • An electrical mechanical yoke lifts Hanna into an upright position and she’s standing tall, ready to take a long walk once the Lite Gait is in position, straddling the treadmill. • The treadmill is activated at .5 mph speed and Hanna, her weight supported by the Lite Gait harness, practices walking – one step at a time. “The goal isn’t ‘How long can you walk on a treadmill’ but ‘Can you walk without anything,’” said Leathers, as Hanna, her bright smile defying the vigorous workout, diligently pushes, pulls and demands her muscles to perform. After taking more than 350 steps, Hanna’s workout reaches the finish line.
“The gait trainer is four legs on wheels, basically,” said Leathers. “It has a pelvic/torso weight supporting harness and it’s narrower than the Lite Gait, so she can use it to walk around at home.” Leathers said Kenny Kids uses the Lite Gait for its pediatric patients from nine or 10 months old to adolescence and it can also be used for adult patients’ physical therapy needs. “This is a great device and gives us another way to treat our patients,” Leathers said. Weight-bearing gait training with the Lite Gait can teach proper patterns earlier in the rehabilitation process and provides corrected upright posture for the workout, she said. With the Lite Gait supporting the patient, the physical therapist is free to kneel down and guide patients’ steps, facilitating the proper gait. “This just really gives us so much more control and gives the patient so much more independence,” Leathers said. And for Hanna, that independence is coming one step, one giant smile at a time. To learn more about Kenny Kids, visit sisterkennyinstitute.com . For more about Lite Gait, visit www.WalkAble.com . Sue Austreng is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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