RNS: ULTrA, April 2007
TIME: 2:16
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URL: www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2007/hmultra.htm
A University of Michigan Health Minute update on important health issues
An ULTrA idea:
Connect adults with cerebral palsy to virtual trainers at home
New online movement-based exercise program at U-M targets adults with CP to maintain mobility, function from the comfort of their home
Suggested lead: The University of Michigan Health System and the U-M School of Kinesiology have begun a joint research and therapy project to assist adults with cerebral palsy using online home therapy. Here’s Andi Mcdonnell with more.
Forty-one-year-old Laura Gable has lived her entire life with cerebral palsy. As she’s grown older, Gable has noticed the pain and stiffness, and other motor affects associated with her cerebral palsy have worsened. But Laura’s busy work and family schedule prevent her from being able to attend regular physical therapy outside her home.
She tells us…
“Doing physical therapy outside the home is very difficult for me. I do manage to work 40 hours a week and I have my daughter and I’m also teaching an online class. I have no time for any of that. It’s hard to go back and forth and back and forth and fit it in 2 or 3 times a week. So whenever I can do something at home I’m much more receptive to it.”
Bringing therapy to patients like Laura at home is exactly what experts at the University of Michigan Health System and the U-M School of Kinesiology are doing through joint research and therapy program call ULTrA, or Upper Limb Training and Assessment Program.
Dr. Susan Brown (Ph.D.), director of the Motor Control Lab at the U-M School of Kinesiology, explains...
“What we’re using is Internet technology of streaming video that allows us to basically extend out laboratory so that it now includes the individual in a home setting, so it becomes convenient for them to engage in the training program. And it is designed to have around a 40 minute training session, 5 days a week for 8 weeks.”
Each patient’s home is equipped with a computer-based upper limb training unit, a high-speed Internet connection, and a training CD. Patients interact with computer-generated images of people stretching, and also have access to people at U-M who coach and provide encouragement via web cameras.
Brown says preliminary research results show that ULTrA is making a positive impact on patients’ mobility, and it holds the potential to help more patients in the future.
“I think that apart from rehabilitation, I think there’s a real potential to use this technology to open up the world for people who have mobility issues and take advantage of the technology that’s out there.”
Andi Mcdonnell, U-M Health System News.
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