Who benefits from Bionic Leg therapy?

Ideally, Bionic Leg therapy starts as soon after stroke as possible, typically when the patient can sit up and begin sit-to-stand exercises.

But Bionic Leg therapists are reporting excellent results with patients one to ten years post-stroke, in as few as four to eight weeks.

• The first of two videos above show a 57 year old man nine years post-stroke. He suffered severe spasticity, and could ambulate in the community only with a scooter.
• As the second video and table above illustrate, after just eight one-hour Bionic Leg therapy sessions over four weeks, this patient very significantly increased his gait speed, endurance, and balance (56 = “normal” on the Berg Balance score).
• One month after Bionic Leg therapy ended, he was retested (“4 wks post”) and was observed to have improved in all three factors, showing that gains with the Bionic Leg were more than retained.

Obviously, each patient’s capabilities and determination to walk play major roles in the degree of recovery achieved. However, this patient’s experience is similar those evaluated at several Bionic Leg sites:

UCSF Study

What do improved gait speed & endurance mean?

Gait speed and endurance gains like those above are impressive, but the impact of those gains
must be measured by how they impacted each patient’s life:

• EM, 5 years post-stroke, went from a limited community ambulator to community ambulator
• AC, 1.5 years post-stroke, went from a household ambulator to limited community ambulator
• VH, 10 years post-stroke, who started therapy as a community ambulator, progressed to the status of an age-matched healthy adult