In the world of neuromuscular rehabilitation, every patient presents a unique set of challenges in creating and executing a successful rehab strategy. Ceci was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder caused by inflammation across the spinal cord, just before her sixth birthday. While prognoses vary widely, Ceci's disorder has caused her to lose muscle control of her shoulder, arm, and wrist muscles along with requiring her to use of a ventilator. Moreover, small falls that would otherwise be accetable for a child her age must also be avoided due to a birth defect called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Because of these limitations, her rehabilitation focuses on improving her walking abilities and finding methods she can use her right hand, which she does have some muscle control in, to write or use devices such as iPads. The difficulties in carrying out this rehabilitation with Ceci is that a physical therapist must, at all times, hold both of Ceci's arms up while she walks. This helps to both decrease or eliminate her fall risk while also supporting her shoulder joints so that she is not in pain while she walks.
After meeting with both Ceci's doctors and physical therapists, it was decided that Ceci's mobility assistance device must acomplish the following goals: