Interesting that this is put on the good foot, similar to this? This probably would do nothing for me, the spasticity turning my foot out and lack of a free swinging lower leg wouldn't be corrected by this.
Exercising the good side to recover the 'bad' side.
Health Beat: Stroke shoe retrains the brain
"I used to walk three to five miles a day before my stroke. and it would be nice if I could just walk a half a mile," she said.
Hintz is making strides with a patented portable shoe. It's called the Moterum iStride device. It was invented at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Doctors have been working for years to get it just right, and they're almost to the finish line.
"It took a lot of math, a lot of engineering and quite a few different prototypes to get it to work just right," said Kyle Reed, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at USF.
Many stroke patients are left with a limp because of damage to their central nervous system. The shoe helps rewire the brain so they can correct their gait. Doctors said it's more effective and cheaper than the typical split belt treadmill treatment, and patients can even take it home.
"The iStride device causes one foot to move backwards while they're walking and this helps to exaggerate one of the feet so it becomes more asymmetric, especially when they take it off," Reed continued. "They have a corrected gait where it's more symmetric afterwards."
"Don't forget the patient is wearing the shoe on their good side," said Seok Hun Kim, an associate professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation sciences at USF.
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