WDIY 88.1 FM recently featured Good Shepherd Pediatrics on an episode of Teen Scientist, detailing how the use of innovative rehabilitation technology can help children with cerebral palsy or other complex conditions to walk.
The public-radio program covers “groundbreaking innovation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines — entirely from a teenage perspective.” Show host Rayna Malhotra interviewed Amanda Kleckner, PT, DPT, administrative director of Pediatrics, about Good Shepherd’s use of the Trexo Plus.
Listen to the full Teen Scientist episode.
The robotic exoskeleton technology, with guidance from expert physical therapists, helps children with complex medical conditions walk in a safe, correct and consistent manner, Kleckner says:
“It has a motor at the knee and the hip that helps to advance the child’s leg or move it forward for them if they’re unable to or help them if they just need a little bit of assistance. It puts the child in their near-perfect alignment or the best alignment that they can achieve to then allow that repeat practice. The more you practice a skill, the more their patterns will develop in your brain and the pathways will correct. Maybe they’re sending the wrong signal, and we then put them in the correct alignment to send the correct signal.”
The radio program also featured Jennifer Pineda, a mother whose 6-year-old daughter, Emily, has first-hand experience with the life-changing technology and therapy.
Emily enjoys the same things most kindergartners do — jumping, dancing, swinging, playing on the tablet and more — but Emily, who has cerebral palsy, needs some help participating in those activities, Jennifer Pineda says:
“So, when Emily wants to raise her left hand, it is very difficult for her to raise her left hand and wave. Or it is difficult for her to take steps on her own. Her muscles are not receiving the signals from her brain that she should stand up straight or sit up straight. …
“[The exoskeleton is] constantly doing the motion of walking for the child. So, to know that this not only would help Emily physically but also mentally. To know that she’s walking by herself. No one is holding her, no one is helping her …. That is a feeling that she had never had before. And it was just really exciting to experience — to see as a mom — my child experience it. It was just wonderful. And I just love it every single time I see her in this device.”
Learn more about how Trexo Plus can help your child or schedule an evaluation.