Shaking rehabilitation foundations
Rehab revolutionaries hope for healthy haul from campaign
For patients with disabling injuries, Toronto Rehab’s iDAPT Centre exists somewhere between University Ave. and a near-magical realm.
It’s a cathedral for cutting-edge inventiveness whose clergy, made up of industrial designers and biomedical engineers, have earned a reputation for shaking the foundations of rehabilitation science.
On Monday, Toronto Rehab Foundation launches its latest fundraising campaign, which it hopes will bring in $100 million for advancing research programs and unlocking new rehabilitation tools.
Given today’s aging population, it’s an appeal that stroke survivor Howard Rocket believes is critical.
The clock had read roughly 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, 1995 when Rocket’s headache turned catastrophic. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he’d just experienced a massive stroke.
“It got really intense and you just know when something bad is happening so I started to go up stairs, got to my room, collapsed on my knees and called 911.”
The blood clot lodged deep in Rocket’s brain left his left side paralyzed. His arm simply shut off, sentenced to hang in a seemingly lifeless state. At its end, Rocket’s hand, its five fingers clenched closed, was locked in the shape of fist.
“Can you imagine a fly landing on your nose and not being able to do anything?” he said.
But now after 20 years of imprisoning paralysis, he’s been given parole.
Rocket has gradually restored hand and arm function through MyndMove, a device developed from scratch and tested at the Toronto Rehab iDAPT Centre’s rehabilitation engineering lab.
“I no longer have to wear mittens,” he said, steering the tips of his relaxed fingers into a black, fingered glove. “I drive a three-wheeled electric bike, though not very fast, but can show people I’m turning left behind me by holding out my arm."
“All this, from an arm that was 100 per cent totally dead,” added Rocket. In gratitude, Rocket’s daughter Dana led a fundraising event this spring that raised over $131,000 for what is now the Rocket Family Upper Extremity Clinic.
According to Mynd Move’s inventor, biomedical engineer Milos Popovic, the therapy works in tandem with the brain’s ability to relearn movements associated with daily living, like holding a pen or cup.
Stroke and spinal-cord injury patients typically attend treatments that last one hour. A patient is usually able to attain “substantial improvement” in regaining upper extremity movement after 20 to 40 hours.
The creation is one of many birthed at the centre, a state-of-the-art, mod- ern foundry composed of several laboratories where scientists study the “biomechanics” of everyday life. It’s a proving ground for assistive technologies that will enable people to live longer and more safely in their homes.
For some, it will offer the chance to have a telephone conversation without relying on a caregiver to hold the phone. For others, it will be using the washroom without an aid.
In Rocket’s case, both Toronto Rehab and Mynd Move have allowed him to return to a normalcy he believed had vanished such long time ago.
“It has built my self-esteem and given me back my life. It may not be exactly how it once was but who cares? This is so important for a stroke patient.
“This is hope.”