Technologie & Entwicklung
Modern treatment, sustainable help
Discover how robotics, VR, and real patient cases inspired thousands at Europe’s largest neurorehab showcase. Explore how modern therapy boosts motivation, mobility, and quality of life – and why staying curious pays off.
Tirza Berger
Press Officer for Medical Trade Fairs and Congresses, Leipzig Trade Fair
‘live PRAXIS neuroreha’ special show at therapie LEIPZIG 2023
Europe’s largest special show on neurorehabilitation took place from 4 to 6 May 2023 as part of the therapie LEIPZIG trade fair. For three days, ten patients with various neurological diseases, together with their physiotherapists and occupational therapists, gave live demonstrations of state-of-the-art digitally and robotically assisted therapy and training equipment. They travelled from Schweinfurt with the THERAMotion Therapy Institute.
“I brought around 20 devices – from robotic gait trainers to exoskeletons – which I also use in my practice, for the live demonstrations,” Maik Hartwig, Managing Director of THERAMotion, explains. “The special show attracted a lot of visitors right from day one. I was particularly pleased that my peers actively participated in the event and asked lots of questions. I have the impression that new treatment methods are now gaining momentum because the progress that can be achieved with them is becoming increasingly clear.”
Even new patients came to the special show at the trade fair. Among them was a man with a severe impairment as a result of a traumatic brain injury, who has been in a wheelchair for 22 years.
“We developed the first treatment options with him. With the support of a mobile exoskeletal system, he walked for half an hour for the first time in 22 years,” Maik Hartwig explains.
The practice owner and his team hope that during their time at therapie LEIPZIG they have helped to increase the acceptance of therapy methods in neurorehabilitation based on robotics and virtual reality. After all, what ultimately counts is what the patients want to achieve and the best way to achieve it. Tradition, experience and technology are not mutually exclusive. “We offer holistic therapy for a wide range of symptoms – from stroke to long Covid – based on goals set by patients. These goals are all at the everyday or participation level – carrying and holding objects, independent personal hygiene, walking better and walking faster.”
“We always work in a transdisciplinary way,” Jule Schneider, physiotherapist at THERAMotion, adds. “Many of our therapies combine computerised, game-based methods to stimulate motivation and ambition with traditional applications such as dumbbells or weight vests.” The advantage of computers and virtual reality is that patients can see their successes as a high score on the screen and can transfer them to their everyday life in a clear and tangible way. The interactive character of virtual reality, 3D visualisations and robotic systems motivate patients. The built-in biofeedback helps patients to achieve their training goals. In addition, these systems achieve a high training intensity, enable training at the individual performance limit and, above all, can sustainably activate the mechanisms of neuroplasticity. This enables the brain to make new connections that ‘bridge’ the damaged areas.
“We regularly evaluate the current therapy status and the goals achieved with the patient because the devices are not there to replace the therapeutic work but to support the therapy. I find it incredibly motivating to see how enthusiastic the patients are! It’s fantastic when they can get out of their wheelchair and walk on their own again! Creating quality of life is the best possible achievement – that’s why communicating these new concepts at the special show has been so important. Because our patients are the best proof that this approach works,” Jule Schneider explains.
“I brought around 20 devices – from robotic gait trainers to exoskeletons – which I also use in my practice, for the live demonstrations,” Maik Hartwig, Managing Director of THERAMotion, explains. “The special show attracted a lot of visitors right from day one. I was particularly pleased that my peers actively participated in the event and asked lots of questions. I have the impression that new treatment methods are now gaining momentum because the progress that can be achieved with them is becoming increasingly clear.”
Even new patients came to the special show at the trade fair. Among them was a man with a severe impairment as a result of a traumatic brain injury, who has been in a wheelchair for 22 years.
“We developed the first treatment options with him. With the support of a mobile exoskeletal system, he walked for half an hour for the first time in 22 years,” Maik Hartwig explains.
The practice owner and his team hope that during their time at therapie LEIPZIG they have helped to increase the acceptance of therapy methods in neurorehabilitation based on robotics and virtual reality. After all, what ultimately counts is what the patients want to achieve and the best way to achieve it. Tradition, experience and technology are not mutually exclusive. “We offer holistic therapy for a wide range of symptoms – from stroke to long Covid – based on goals set by patients. These goals are all at the everyday or participation level – carrying and holding objects, independent personal hygiene, walking better and walking faster.”
“We always work in a transdisciplinary way,” Jule Schneider, physiotherapist at THERAMotion, adds. “Many of our therapies combine computerised, game-based methods to stimulate motivation and ambition with traditional applications such as dumbbells or weight vests.” The advantage of computers and virtual reality is that patients can see their successes as a high score on the screen and can transfer them to their everyday life in a clear and tangible way. The interactive character of virtual reality, 3D visualisations and robotic systems motivate patients. The built-in biofeedback helps patients to achieve their training goals. In addition, these systems achieve a high training intensity, enable training at the individual performance limit and, above all, can sustainably activate the mechanisms of neuroplasticity. This enables the brain to make new connections that ‘bridge’ the damaged areas.
“We regularly evaluate the current therapy status and the goals achieved with the patient because the devices are not there to replace the therapeutic work but to support the therapy. I find it incredibly motivating to see how enthusiastic the patients are! It’s fantastic when they can get out of their wheelchair and walk on their own again! Creating quality of life is the best possible achievement – that’s why communicating these new concepts at the special show has been so important. Because our patients are the best proof that this approach works,” Jule Schneider explains.
Achieving more
Sabine E. is one of the patients who travelled specially to Leipzig with THERAMotion. In 2012, she suffered a stroke as a result of a damaged artery during an operation. She woke up with the left side of her body paralysed. Her days were then dominated by rehabilitation, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. “I had to relearn everyday movements. I have practised, practised, practised. At first, progress was small and often frustrating. I wanted to be able to look after my one-and-a-half-year-old son! I managed to get out of the wheelchair and move around my home independently. I was able to walk to my doctor’s appointments using a walking stick. I couldn’t drive though. I wasn’t happy with the situation,” the 45-year-old says. She was eventually able to walk without the walking stick, but still wore an ankle foot orthosis because a dorsiflexor weakness kept making her trip and stumble.
“Most therapists said: You can walk, that’s good. Be happy with that achievement. That was depressing for me because I wanted more,” Sabine E. recalls. She was of course pleased to have survived and see her son grow up. But she wanted her everyday life back. In 2015, she heard about THERAmotion and completed an intensive computer and robotics-supported therapy programme – in addition to the treatments listed in the therapeutic products catalogue that can be prescribed and funded by the health insurance providers. “These three weeks were decisive! The intensive training with a gait robot and exoskeleton was something completely new for me. I could walk upright again in the exoskeleton! And without the fear of falling,” Sabine E. recalls. Computer-assisted fine motor training for the fingers also had a successful outcome when she finally saw the movements in her paralysed hand.
She would like her participation in the special show to be a sign of courage and determination. Courage to combine traditional and modern methods in physiotherapy and occupational therapy while focusing on the wishes of patients and rethinking previous forms of rehabilitation: “I’m enormously pleased about all the great interest and the many questions. Clearly, health insurance providers should see this too!” Along with the other patients, she sees this as a great opportunity to demonstrate at a trade fair what is achievable.
Sabine E. is one of the patients who travelled specially to Leipzig with THERAMotion. In 2012, she suffered a stroke as a result of a damaged artery during an operation. She woke up with the left side of her body paralysed. Her days were then dominated by rehabilitation, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. “I had to relearn everyday movements. I have practised, practised, practised. At first, progress was small and often frustrating. I wanted to be able to look after my one-and-a-half-year-old son! I managed to get out of the wheelchair and move around my home independently. I was able to walk to my doctor’s appointments using a walking stick. I couldn’t drive though. I wasn’t happy with the situation,” the 45-year-old says. She was eventually able to walk without the walking stick, but still wore an ankle foot orthosis because a dorsiflexor weakness kept making her trip and stumble.
“Most therapists said: You can walk, that’s good. Be happy with that achievement. That was depressing for me because I wanted more,” Sabine E. recalls. She was of course pleased to have survived and see her son grow up. But she wanted her everyday life back. In 2015, she heard about THERAmotion and completed an intensive computer and robotics-supported therapy programme – in addition to the treatments listed in the therapeutic products catalogue that can be prescribed and funded by the health insurance providers. “These three weeks were decisive! The intensive training with a gait robot and exoskeleton was something completely new for me. I could walk upright again in the exoskeleton! And without the fear of falling,” Sabine E. recalls. Computer-assisted fine motor training for the fingers also had a successful outcome when she finally saw the movements in her paralysed hand.
She would like her participation in the special show to be a sign of courage and determination. Courage to combine traditional and modern methods in physiotherapy and occupational therapy while focusing on the wishes of patients and rethinking previous forms of rehabilitation: “I’m enormously pleased about all the great interest and the many questions. Clearly, health insurance providers should see this too!” Along with the other patients, she sees this as a great opportunity to demonstrate at a trade fair what is achievable.
Pole position for new technology
Alexander Kamps, Head of Sales Germany, THERA-Trainer by medica Medizintechnik GmbH: “The ‘live PRAXIS neuroreha’ special show put us in pole position for our devices whose practical application could be experienced live. Real patients, real therapists who achieve and demonstrate positive treatment effects – a presentation of this kind is something very special. Experts looking to kit out their practices with up-to-date equipment also came to therapie LEIPZIG. And this trade fair offers them everything in a very concentrated form: if you want to find out about therapy equipment, you have to go to Leipzig. The special show is another highlight – because when treating an increasing number of severely affected people, getting by without up-to-date technology is no longer an option.”
Alexander Kamps, Head of Sales Germany, THERA-Trainer by medica Medizintechnik GmbH: “The ‘live PRAXIS neuroreha’ special show put us in pole position for our devices whose practical application could be experienced live. Real patients, real therapists who achieve and demonstrate positive treatment effects – a presentation of this kind is something very special. Experts looking to kit out their practices with up-to-date equipment also came to therapie LEIPZIG. And this trade fair offers them everything in a very concentrated form: if you want to find out about therapy equipment, you have to go to Leipzig. The special show is another highlight – because when treating an increasing number of severely affected people, getting by without up-to-date technology is no longer an option.”
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Tirza Berger
Press Officer for Medical Trade Fairs and Congresses, Leipzig Trade Fair
Tirza Berger is the Press Officer for medical trade fairs and congresses at Leipzig Trade Fair, where she is responsible for the communication of the therapy events.
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