[March 13, 2013]

Wolf Creek Care Center Helps Stroke Patients Recover Ability to Walk with Tibion's 100th Bionic Leg

Wolf Creek Care Center has taken delivery of one of medicine's latest robotic miracles - a Tibion Bionic Leg, which enables its staff to help stroke patients and others escape life in a wheelchair by recovering their ability to walk.

The Bionic Leg acquired by Wolf Creek is the 100^th such device delivered by Tibion Corporation, a Silicon Valley startup based in Sunnyvale, CA (News - Alert).

Each year, almost half of the more than 700,000 Americans who survive a stroke are left with weakness in the leg on their affected side, which impairs their ability to walk. About 3 million chronic stroke survivors struggle with walkers and canes that put them at risk of a dangerous fall. Until recently, medicine believed that whatever disability remained a year after stroke was essentially irreversible.

The Tibion Bionic Leg is novel wearable robotic device that enables stroke survivors to regain strength and control in their impaired leg. Through repetitive sit-to-stand transfers, stepping and stairclimbing with the Bionic Leg, patients appear to encourage the brain to "reprogram" around stroke-damaged nerve pathways, so that they regain the ability to put full weight on their affected legs - even 10 or more years post-stroke.

New patients and residents both benefiting from Bionic Leg

Kelorie Westlund, facility rehab director at Wolf Creek, reports both staff and patients are delighted with their new rehabilitation tool:

"It's just fantastic," Ms. Westlund says. "We use it on new admissions and on our long-term residents. It's broadening our therapists'horizons regarding what we can do for patients who've frustrated us in the past, because conventional therapy just couldn't get them to the state of independence they wanted - and we wanted for them."

Ms. Westlund reports that the staff now looks at each debilitated patient in their 60-bed facility and considers whether they might be a candidate for Bionic Leg therapy.

"One patient we're successfully rehabilitating with the Bionic Leg is a recent admission from Sierra Nevada Hospital, across the street. One of the reasons we earned the referral is because we have a Bionic Leg. In just a few weeks of therapy, we see him making gains we could not expect to see even after months of traditional gait therapy.

"We also put our new Bionic Leg on one of our long-term patients who had a stroke many, many years ago," Ms. Westlund adds. "Like most stroke patients, he'd developed what we call a 'compensated' gait, putting as little weight as possible on his affected leg as he struggled with a walker. That's exhausting, and put him at risk of a fall, which could break a hip. Despite the years that passed since this resident's stroke, we're seeing him reacquire his strength and more appropriate weight shifting - at least twice as fast as we could have expected."

Bionic Leg may prove a "magnet" to attract referrals from hospitals, community

Peter Stack, director of admissions at Wolf Creek, believes their new Bionic Leg will prove a magnet for referrals from Sierra Nevada and other hospitals in the area.

"We can now provide superior rehabilitation for patients with a wide range of disabilities following surgery or trauma as well as stroke," Mr. Stack says.

The success of rehabilitating their long-term resident who had a stroke in the distant past encourages the Wolf Creek rehab team to believe they can help a wide range of impaired patients with their new technology.

"For example, total hip and knee patients can be excellent candidates for Bionic Leg therapy at Wolf Creek," Mr. Stack explains.

"By the time many total joint patients get their surgery, they've usually put up with years of pain, and they've developed a risky gait, and abnormal techniques of climbing stairs. The postop pain of their new hip or knee doesn't encourage them to break those bad habits. But with the Bionic Leg, we can take the weight off their painful limb and help them gradually reacquire a safer, normal way of walking and climbing the steps in their homes."

Families of prospective rehab patients should contact the Wolf Creek admissions office at (530) 273-4447. For additional information on the Tibion Bionic Leg, visit www.tibion.com and www.onstroke.org.

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