A spine deformibility repair chair can be used to restore a spinal injury by removing a deformity that is common in spinal cord injury.
A joint reconstruction chair was created by scientists from the University of Oxford and University of Sheffield and can be configured in a range of different ways.
The new device can be fitted to a patient’s upper limb using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and a patient can also adjust the position of the chair using the computer software.
It is the first device designed specifically for patients with spinal cord injuries, according to the researchers.
The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The team at the University’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (FMMD) in London, UK, and the University College London (UCL) were initially inspired by the use of robotic limbs in the field of spinal medicine.
They have developed a new method for a high-resolution robotic arm that can be placed over a patient to enable them to use their hands and move their lower limbs in a controlled way.
This is a first for robotic orthotics, they said.
The researchers first worked with a patient with a severe spinal injury to investigate the feasibility of using a high resolution robotic arm to treat a patient.
“Our first idea was to design a robotic arm with the intention of using it to replace a broken hand and to restore function to a normal hand,” Dr. Richard Grieve, a professor of surgery at the FMMD, told BBC News.
The first patient was a 19-year-old man who was sitting on the floor of his house when he suffered a fall on his home floor.
He was able to walk to a chair to use the robotic arm and had the robotic limb replaced on his upper arm.
Dr. Grieve said the first surgery with a robotic limb was a “complete success”, although he did experience pain and numbness in his hand after the operation.
But this was a relatively minor issue compared to what could have been done with the robotic limbs.
“[The surgery] was not very successful because he had to spend a lot of time sitting on his back and the robotic arms were very heavy, and it was not a pain-free operation.
The pain was not so severe that it was a problem,” he said.
However, in the years that followed, the patients who had the most severe spinal injuries were more likely to have a problem with the new robotic arm, which was not able to fully restore normal function.
In one case, a 20-year old woman was able for the first time to walk on her own, and could lift and stretch her arm without using a robotic device, which required surgery to remove a large bone from the spine.
The researchers believe that the use and potential of robotic orthotic devices has many potential applications for patients who have spinal cord or spinal cord-related injuries.
According to the experts, the robotic orthosis may offer an alternative to the use or modification of conventional tools that are usually used to remove the spinal cord.
This is not the first robotic orthopedic device to be developed for patients.
The company, Robotic Orthotics, developed a device called the V-2 to restore spinal function in patients with traumatic brain injury.
While the V 2 device was not designed specifically to restore normal functionality, it has proven to be effective for restoring functional function.
It was originally developed to treat traumatic brain injuries, but the technology is now being used to treat other types of injuries, including spinal cord fractures, fractures of the spinal column, and spinal cord disorders, such as spastic paraplegia.
Researchers are hopeful that the new device, with its low cost, and ease of use, will be adopted by other orthopedists in the future.
Image source: Robotic orthotics via Wikimedia Commons