November 14, 2013
EDMONTON — The latest generation of a local high-tech invention is turning rehabilitation into fun and games as it inspires patients at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital to work harder on their therapy, which can lead to faster recoveries and better outcomes.
The touch-screen table marries a computer, multi-point touch sensor and specialized gaming software to help stroke, brain injury and surgical patients who require upper limb motor therapy to regain strength, co-ordination and reactive skills. It precisely tracks progress and increases the difficulty and challenge of the games as patients improve.
“Patients get engaged in an activity and, before they know it, they’re half an hour into exercise without realizing they’re exerting themselves,” says Quentin Ranson, Rehabilitation Technology Leader at the Glenrose. “They work longer and that can lead to a faster recovery.”
The first generation of the table — built in 2010 in a partnership between the Glenrose and University of Alberta (U of A) computing science staff and students — offered patients many benefits but was limited by its immovable horizontal screen, fixed height and lack of portability.
The new table is accessible to patients in wheelchairs, allows for two players at a time, can be elevated from 24 to 70 inches, and features a screen that can be tilted from horizontal, when arm strength is lacking, to more vertical, as arm strength increases. It is the result of a creative partnership between Alberta Health Services (AHS) clinicians at the Glenrose and academics and students at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).
Edmonton retiree Wayne Royer, 70, suffered severe left shoulder damage when a tree fell on him. Therapists needed a way to help him use his left arm, which he couldn’t raise to his shoulder.
“This table, this computer, worked out perfectly,” says Royer. “As my arm got better and better, they bumped me up to harder levels for all the different games.”
Royer’s favourite game puts him at the joystick of a virtual airplane and he must dodge dirigibles, buildings, trees, other airplanes and balloons.
“There’s a lot of work to that game. You have to go like heck to keep your airplane from hitting these things,” he says. “I’m doing way better. Now I can lift my left arm up almost as high as the right arm. It improved it so much.”
The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation and NAIT shared applied research and technology costs of about $16,000 in the creation and programming of the new table. The Foundation agreed to invest to help more patients live the lives they want to live.
“This is NAIT coming to us, saying, ‘What do you need?’ ” says Ranson. “We have a vision for it. They make it reality. It’s therapist-driven. It’s patient-driven from the bottom up. That’s why it’s so successful. We’re not having to ‘sell it’ to the therapists because the therapists invented it.”
Dr. Neil Fassina, NAIT Provost and VP Academic, says the school is proud of the applied research its students have been involved in with AHS and the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.
“As one of Canada’s leading polytechnics, it’s essential we provide our students with this hands-on, real-world experience,” says Dr. Fassina. “We’re excited to continue working together on solutions that will make a difference in the lives of patients.”
The new touch-screen table is one example of how clinicians — through workshops with local business entrepreneurs at the annual Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Reverse Trade Show — can turn their dream ideas for patient rehab into new technology that improves lives here and around the world.
Representatives of the Edmonton-based firm Rehabtronics were so impressed with the invention at the last trade show that they struck a deal to manufacture and market the device globally as the Rehabtronics ReTouch.
“At Rehabtronics, we’ve spent the last seven years building products to help people recover movement after severe injury. We still find frequent disconnect between the perceived needs and the actual needs of clinicians,” says Andy Prochazka, CEO of Rehabtronics.
“Seeing the Glenrose touchscreen at the reverse trade show was a significant ‘ah-ha’ moment for us, and allowed us to skip several of the most difficult early-stage product development steps. The Glenrose touchscreen prototype shortened our development cycle of the ReTouch product by at least 12 months, and gave us insight into an unmet niche that we would not have otherwise had.”
The next Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Reverse Trade Show is set for noon to 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 at the Robbins Pavilion, Royal Alexandra Hospital. Local health care product innovators and inventors are invited to hear about challenges Glenrose staffers face taking care of rehab patients, in hopes of working together to create innovative solutions to enhance patient care. To RSVP, or for more information, please email: RehabTech@albertahealthservices.ca
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