Simbex and Biodex announce their partnership to incorporate Simbex’s ActiveStep Fall Prevention technology into the Biodex Gait Trainer 3 treadmill.
ActiveStep was designed and developed by Simbex to facilitate dynamic perturbation training and fall simulations for physical therapy clinics and biomechanics researchers. The Gait Trainer 3 is a Biodex rehabilitation treadmill with biofeedback and neurologic music integration. The addition of ActiveStep technology will add a dimension of perturbation-training capabilities, utilizing rapid changes in belt speed to simulate the motion of slips and trips, making the Gait Trainer 3 an even more powerful and versatile therapy tool, Lebanon, NH-based Simbex notes in a media release.
The results of the Randomized ActiveStep Clinical Evaluation (RACE) Study (NCT01006967), a multi-center, randomized controlled trial with more than 500 participants funded by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and led by Jon Lurie MD, MS, at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, were recently published in Physical Therapy, the journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. Dynamic perturbation training on ActiveStep reduced the incidence of injurious falls by 57% and the overall incidence of falls in older adults (65+) at the 3-month follow-up, compared to standard physical therapy alone, researchers suggest in the study.
“Over the past five years, we’ve seen a proliferation of perturbation training research and products. We’re excited to add a clinically proven and cost-effective tool for fall prevention into our Gait Trainer 3 treadmill,” says Ed Behan, SVP Market Development, Biodex Medical Systems Inc, Shirley, NY, in the release.
ActiveStep technology represents the clinical translation of 20+ years of NIH and CDC-funded research, led by Mark Grabiner, PhD, director of the Clinical Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Laboratory at University of Illinois Chicago, studying the biomechanics of falls. His research teams’ research suggests that dynamic perturbation training in the context of clinical intervention could reduce the incidence of falls in the older adult population.
“Preventing falls is very important. It is exciting to see our clinically validated perturbation training technology being made available to therapists throughout the world through this partnership with Biodex,” Rick Greenwald, CEO, Simbex, comments.
[Source(s): Simbex, Newswire]
