Jan. 26, 2010 Day one of the lokomat clinical study. It took most of the hour to get all of the measurements so that William is able to use the robotic treadmill.

William is harnessed into the contraption that holds him up. 60% of his weight is being held by the machine. Therefore he is walking on 40% of his own weight. The machine is set to walk for him at 100%. He is able to use his muscles and the machine can measure how much his own muscle are actually kicking in. They can tell if he is letting the machine do all of the work. They start at 1 mile/hour and are working up to the max of 2 miles/hour.

Each day that he goes they up the speed. Today being day 9 of therapy...has him at 1.83 miles/hour. Once he is at the max of 2 miles /hour they will start to decrease the amount guidance by the robotic part on his legs. If he is able to walk without alot of guidance then they will increase the amount of weight that he needs to support on his own while walking.

it seem that the trick is to land on the heel of the foot. They tell him to kick his heel out on each step. The gait is constant and even. It is really amazing. he walks for 35 minutes every day. It seems to take about 20 min to get strapped into the machine.

The therapist said that it would be good if I started to help William walk at the house every day. At least some. Walking in the pool is not enough. But, I have noticed that William's gait in the water is better that it was. This must be a result of the Lokomat.

At the rate that they are going he should be at max speed of 2miles/hour next week. Then they will decrease the guidance. This shall be interesting.