Lokomat Machine Helps Patients Walk

Though only 40 exist nationwide, a machine called the Lokomat is changing lives and holds great potential for future therapy for patients with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders.

Allowing users who have been paralyzed or suffer from one of the above conditions to stand and relearn to walk, the Lokomat holds great promise for those who can access facilities with the machine. For example, 24-year-old Oklahoma resident and paralysis patient Jane Sholer had to travel to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for her therapy, and was only able to use it as part of a four-month research study. Luckily for Oklahoma residents, area citizens recently raised the $250,000-plus to get a Lokomat at the University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health.

The Local News Story describes the machine as looking "like what would happen if a parachute harness and ski lift met a white bionic skeleton from a comic book."

We hope to see theraputic machines like the Lokomat more accessible to people nationwide - as it could make great strides in treatment for Cerebral Palsy!