Project Background and Motivation

Introduction:

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 muscular control of much of her upper torso, shoulders, arms, and wrists, along with requiring her to use of a ventilator. Moreover, small falls that would otherwise be acceptable for a child her age must also be avoided due to a birth defect called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which leads to weaker bones. 

Due to these limitations, her rehabilitation focuses on improving her walking and perfecting methods which she can use to better utilize 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 (as she is not able to brace herself is she falls) while also supporting her shoulder joints so that she is not in pain while she walks.

Project Goals:

After meeting with both Ceci's doctors and physical therapists, it was decided that Ceci's assisted mobility device must accomplish the following goals:

• Support both of Ceci's arms during walking operations
• Provide both weight capacity and storage space for a ~20lbs ventilator
• Provide a hard surface for Ceci to write or use an iPad on
• Offer fall protection
• Must not inhibit Ceci's ability to socially interact with her family and peers (i.e. the table surface must be removable)