Rehabilitation

Bioness

Bioness is a highly advanced technology that can help stroke and other neurological patients regain lost mobility and achieve greater independence. Bioness is available in two units, one for the hand and forearm, and the other for the leg and foot.

The first piece of technology for the upper extremities, called Ness 200, is a portable brace like device that rests comfortably around a patient's hand and forearm and utilizes electrical stimulation to re-integrate the brain and muscular function of the arm and hand. The repetition of movement teaches the healthy parts of the brain to relearn lost function, thus improving hand function and voluntary movement, increasing the range of motion and local blood circulation and reducing muscle deterioration.

The second part for the lower extremities, called Ness 300, is designed to help patients who experience foot drop, a common condition characterized by the patient's inability to raise the foot at the ankle.

With this system a small leg cuff is placed around the patients' leg. A sensor is placed in the patient's shoe at the heel and wireless communication between the two devices results in low-level electrical stimulation to the nerve that signals the muscle in the foot to rise. This technology uses wireless communication to "talk" to its components, eliminating wires and allowing the therapist the ability to fine-tune settings while the patient is actually walking. This user-friendly system is appropriate for a broad range of conditions, including stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and incomplete spinal cord injury.

This breakthrough in Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) technology can dramatically assist patients with neurological disorders affecting the function of the arm and hand - including survivors of stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy - regain function.