Armed for therapy: Baptist's new rehab tool helps upper body

I'm sure there's several of these arm rehabbers that your therapists should have all the data on. So ask them.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jun/20/armed-for-therapy/
Whether it's brushing her hair, lifting a fork or tying her shoelaces, there are hundreds of small, everyday tasks Ella Bledsoe no longer takes for granted.

Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal

Ella Bledsoe, 69, uses the InMotion Robot with occupational therapist Stacy Castleberry at Baptist Rehabilitation-Germantown.

The 69-year-old stroke patient working to regain control of the muscles on the right side of her body said that after her stroke three months ago, she'd felt like "giving up."
But a new friend at Baptist Rehabilitation-Germantown, a nameless robot, recently acquired by the hospital, has helped her find the strength to keep trying.
During a recent therapy session with the InMotion Arm Robot, Bledsoe played a game similar to "Frogger," moving her right arm back and forth to dodge obstacles raining down on the computer screen in front of her.
"I like this," she said, as she waited for the robot to generate her "score," which is also a progress report for her physical therapist.
Baptist bought the InMotion Arm Robot, at a cost of more than $100,000, about four months ago to supplement care for patients suffering from stroke, cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions.
"This is nice because, traditionally, there are not a lot of tools therapists can use for the upper extremities," said Monika Kolwaite, brain injury coordinator at Baptist Rehab-Germantown.
A therapist might get 50 reps out of a patient during an hourlong session, she said, but the robot gets a thousand. On top of that, the robot tracks a patient's progress and pushes harder each time.
Baptist Memorial Health Care spokeswoman Lori Simpson said the Germantown facility has the only InMotion Arm Robot in the Southeast.
"This is not the only tool in our bag of tricks," said clinical director Amy Barringer. "But this is certainly the newest and has a lot of promise."
Stroke survivors in the U.S. typically undergo rehabilitation therapy in the first six months after a stroke, conventional wisdom being that there's nothing to gain past that point. But a 2010 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that arm robot technology coupled with intense rehabilitation could benefit patients five years removed from a stroke.
"What we're seeing is that really recent and remote stroke patients can benefit from this," Barringer said. "It's our hope that patients, who maybe didn't get help years ago, can benefit from the technology we have now."