Biodex introduces the new Gait Trainer 3, which is designed with an Integrated Music Therapy option to aid in the rehabilitation of individuals with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease. The Integrated Music Therapy option is reportedly an industry first, according to the company.
Rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) and patterned sensory enhancement (PSE) techniques use audio cues in music to activate areas of the brain that facilitate movements desirable for gait.
The Integrated Music Therapy option on the Gait Trainer 3 instrument panel features both RAS and PSE capabilities, explains a media release from Biodex.
Since the music used in music therapy must be specifically selected or composed, or else gait detriment could occur, Biodex teamed with the Movement Tracks Project to equip the Gait Trainer 3 with a starter library of music therapy-informed compositions only licensed for use on this device.
The Gait Trainer 3 also provides therapists the ability to upload their own songs and transfer them to a patient’s personal device to encourage training outside the clinical setting.
“The idea behind merging the music technologies with biomedical technologies is that right now there is nothing to bridge the gap. And the music is so powerful in the treatment of these disorders . . . everything has to be done live by a music therapist. And there’s too few of us,” says Hope Young, president and founder of the Center for Music Therapy Inc and co-producer of the Movement Tracks Project, in a media release from Biodex.
[Source: Biodex]
