IMPACT OF THE ZEROG GAIT AND BALANCE SYSTEM
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CASE STUDY
Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana highlights the immediateimpact Aretech’s ZeroG® Gait and Balance System made with theirpatients, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
Community Hospital in Munster, Indiana recentlyacquired Aretech’s ZeroG® Gait and BalanceSystem. Within their second month of owningZeroG, and after logging 90+ hours of use across170 sessions, they have prevented 600 falls andthe therapists, patients, and administrators arealready convinced that ZeroG is the way of thefuture.
Amy Castillo, Director of Therapy Servicesremarked, “I envision that there will be moreZeroGs within our hospital system because of thegreat value. It really changes the way you can treatand I think we can empower those patients withthe most difficult deficits to overcome[…]Thosethat were never able to attempt walking, orattempt stairs, now not only are they attemptingthem, but they are moving to independence. Ienvision it will be the way of the future for some ofthese patients.”
Amy wasn’t just speaking in hyperbole; she hasalready seen some of their more complex patientsachieve milestones that seemed nearly impossiblea few months earlier.
“Elizabeth” who suffered a dense stroke, neverwanted to try stairs in therapy and would chooseto go home instead of attempting stairs while outin the community. However, once her PhysicalTherapist got her harnessed into ZeroG she feltmuch more confident to tackle her biggest fear.After only a few sessions she was able to do stairs“20 times in a session”, said Samantha Paige, PT,DPT. “She leaves exhausted but feeling moreconfident in herself.” Then one day shetriumphantly walked into the gym and shared thatshe had climbed a set of stairs outside of therapyfor the first time!
Amy credits the immediate impact ZeroG has hadto the simplicity of its operation and the creativityof her staff. Jake Virgo, PT, DPT, NCS, one of theZeroG Super Users, believes ZeroG can help all ofhis patients and stated, “I can’t think of a patientthat wouldn’t benefit from some sort of treatment.I can take any patient and find a beneficial way ofusing it with them.” Jake also added “It’s prettyfast too, to get in, get going and get everythingset up its really quick so it doesn’t take up a lot ofyour session which is helpful.”
Jake’s favorite exercise to do in ZeroG with his SCIpatients with poor trunk control is supine to longsitting, with the patient’s legs hanging off the mattable for core activation. Jake is able to modulatethe level of dynamic body-weight support as thepatient moves through the movement which allowshim to provide assistance (i.e. increase BWS) ormake it more challenging (i.e. decrease BWS).
Jake isn’t the only one on staff finding creativeuses for ZeroG. Samantha has turned to ZeroG forone of her shoulder patients suffering fromweakness and instability, which at first, soundscounterintuitive. However, Samantha immediatelysaw an opportunity and got her patient into ZeroGdoing modified pushups with dynamic BWS andplanks to strengthen his upper body.
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Quick Adoption of the ZeroG Gait and Balance System
Beyond Just Gait and Balance
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An OT’s Perspective
A patient’s ability to take care of themselves is acritical component to their return to the communityand regain independence. Occupational TherapistMichelle Walker has been treating a dense strokepatient together with Jake. The patient’s goal is toregain enough independence in order to allow herprimary caregiver, her sister, to go on a vacationby the end of the year. Achieving this goal hingesalmost entirely on this patient’s ability to take careof herself in the bathroom, which is the only placewhere she won’t let anyone else help her but hersister. With ZeroG, Michelle and Jake feel this goalis finally achievable.
Thanks to ZeroG, therapists have been able to dothings with patients they simply weren’t able to dobefore. Samantha remarked “I have a spinal cordpatient and there is no way I would ever put himon the floor without ZeroG because it would takeat least three or four of us to get him up.”
Amy added, “From a risk management standpointthe hospital was pretty excited because employeesdo get injured while trying to mobilize patients.Now we can manage a patient independentlywithout 2 or 3 support staff while also being muchsafer.” Hermelinda Hernandez, DPT, smiled andstated, “My back is feeling so much better!”
The idea was that if she could get used to the feelof pulling her pants up and down and reachingacross her body while safe in ZeroG, they couldslowly transition her out of ZeroG after she hasmastered the skills.
Occupational Therapists at Community have alsonoticed when patients are coming to them afterphysical therapy using ZeroG, is that they havegreater confidence and improved endurance andstamina. The patients are tolerating much moresimply because they are doing more grossmovements in ZeroG as compared to smaller moreconfined movements in parallel bars.
The therapy staff at Community all agreed that theyare seeing patients who normally could only be upmoving for 10 minutes before needing a rest whonow can be up and moving for 30 minutes beforeeven realizing that much time has passed. Jakeadded “It is because they feel more comfortableand safer in ZeroG.”
Not Enough Sessions
Jake commented that “This woman was someonewho was definitely limited due to neurologicalimpairments, but she was greatly limited by fear.”To eliminate the fear of falling, Jake and Michellegot her in ZeroG where she felt safe just standing.From there, they were able to emphasize the wholeclothing management portion of lower extremitydressing.
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For more information on Community Hospital, a 458-bed, not-for-profit, non-sectarian, acute care facility recognized for meeting this nation’s highest heath care standards, visit: https://www.comhs.org/about-us/community-hospital
For more information about the ZeroG Gait and Balance System and other advanced rehabilitation technologies, visit: www.aretechllc.com
The more ZeroG gets used in the clinic the morethe demand for it increases. Samantha commented,“I’ve had patients see other patients in it and havesaid they think that ZeroG might be good for themtoo.” Amy Castillo added, “We haven’t evenmarketed it yet and we are already getting ahealthy volume of patients for this modality”. Dueto this demand Amy has had had to limit theirAcute Rehab Unit, which is located three floorsabove the outpatient gym, to only accessing ZeroGon the weekend when the Outpatient staff andpatients are not around. In the meantime, they areexploring adding a second ZeroG robot to theirtrack or another entirely separate system on theARU floor.
The word has begun spreading throughout theirhealth system and Amy recalled a conversation shehad with a physiatrist who asked her what theycould do for their partial weight bearing orthopedicpatients. Amy smiled and said, “This is just the tipof the iceberg.”
Even outside of their health system, PTs arerecognizing the impact ZeroG has on certainpatient populations. Samantha added, “My sister isa PT as well and when she gets a neuro patient shehas begun thinking to send them over to usbecause she knows we have the equipment here.”In addition, she is having more fun now that ZeroGhas been installed and directed others decidingwhether or not to get a ZeroG, to simply, “Get it!”
About Community Hospital
Community Hospital, one of four premierhealthcare facilities in the Community HealthcareSystem, is nationally recognized for its outstandingquality of care through a full range of inpatient andoutpatient programs and specialty service lines.
ZeroG has caught on so quickly at CommunityHospital that the therapists found themselvesfighting over who gets to use it with their patientsand a solution needed to be drawn up. Thatsolution has been dubbed “ZeroG Draft Day” byJake which means every Friday afternoon, beforedeparting for the weekend, the clinicians gatheraround the ZeroG schedule and take turns selectingtime slots for the following week until they are allgone.
