High-Tech Solutions For Stroke Rehab

Article preview from Medtech Insight - March 27, 2013

Clinicians who work with stroke patients are beginning to look at robotics and other innovative technologies in rehabilitation that could allow for more treatments without increasing staffing. Young companies with products in development compete with established players in this market, which eventually could become more important to providers as reform efforts move ahead.

High-Tech Solutions For Stroke Rehab

Article preview from Medtech Insight - March 27, 2013

New technology being developed in stroke rehabilitation therapy is coming at a time when providers are looking for ways to improve patient outcomes without incurring additional costs. Tools that help clinicians address that need could be in high demand, and companies that deal in the rehab market believe medical facilities are becoming more receptive to devices that can help improve efficiency. One of the technology areas with particular potential is robotics, which has long promised to offer labor-saving tools that allow humans to do more. In stroke therapy, that promise is starting to be fulfilled, and although a good deal still needs to be learned about the role robotics will ultimately play in patient care, this once futuristic segment of the industry has made impressive gains in the last decade. As one manufacturer in the space notes, the technology has markedly improved in recent years, and that has led to better robotic devices and equipment that can not only benefit patients, but also can make a positive economic impact on the health facilities that use these tools.

Even though some robotic products have been on the market for a while, the pressures of health care reform are giving providers a new reason to look at these devices as well as at emerging products. And advancement in the technology, coupled with the growing need for greater medical care efficiency, has brought several new companies into competition with more established players in a market that seems to be expanding.

Stroke patients are one of the chief targets for robotic rehabilitation technologies, and the topic was a point of discussion at the 2013 International Stroke Conference (ISC), held recently in Hawaii by the American Stroke Association (ASA), a division of the American Heart Association (AHA).

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