Some Trial Results Presented to Public

In June 11th, 2014 event organized by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)  dedicated to advancements in treatment of Spinal Cord Injury there were some very interesting moments.

Dr Wise Young (from mark 41 min to 47 min) report of 2nd phase Human trial for Umbillical Cord Blood Stem Cell in China and some extremely good results with 15 out of 20 complete SCI people improvement, walking ! Due to requirements for 3rd phase trial submission and FDA approval, video’s an slides. from Dr. Young’s presentation could not be included but some remarks are very significant and promising!

Also, from Dr. Mary Bartlett Bunge (from mark 9.20 to mark 24 min) you can see interesting presentation about MIAMI PROJECT work with Schwann cells, first Human Trial and extremely slow and painfull FDA approval of their work.

Indego Exoskeleton

The Newest Exoskeleton INDEGO coming closer to the concept of mobility device that people with Spinal Cord Injury can use in everyday life!
Looks better than most of other Exo’s so far.  Some things could be even better – for example I think that one of future models of Indego Exoskeleton should be rehab oriented with possible merging FES (external low electric stim on patient muscles) to induce active but with machine balanced controlled stepping.
It is known fact that FES can help in Rehab (Parastep or similar) and with Exoskeleton equipped with FES training of person to regain ability to walk again would be much more efficient than with other similar systems.
If , now older,  Rehab devices as Locomat can have sensors to recognize patient’s input and adjust power in controlled and balanced stepping, I don’t think should be any trouble for makers of Indego to create such a FES equipped machine.
In discussion  on this panel (1h 12 min mark) Dr. Wise Young and Dr. Roderic Pettigrew are talking about electric stimulation & walking training as possible way of re-training SCI person.

This is the smallest (27 LBs) and the most promising exo so far. Right now in Clinical trial.
More Info you can find in this News Article and on Indego website.

Expected retail price will be $ 60,000 and expected is to drop down with newer stronger and lighter models. Should be available in 2015 (EU) and 2016 (USA)