The Balance Trainer

[doug]

Well, this afternoon I saw it, I touched it and I stroked it, see image. It was demonstrated to the staff on Tues and Wed. Today it was being used in anger. Anne was having an afternoon session. Having deposited her, I went off for my stroll,and on my return I walked into the Gym and Sandra, her Physio' told me to take my shoes off and get on it. Get on what was my immediate reply. She pointed over to the couch in the corner and there it was. So i stood on the mats and she set me off on the slalom run. Could I control it between the flags? Then she fired up a running race around the circuit, which I managed slowly. Then she set up one of the balance measure. It's very sensitive. Anne said afterwards that this was really effective. Normally, when they try to get her to balance Sandra holds her hips from behind telling her to push one hip forward or back or out to the side. Anne said with this thing she could see exactly what was required. She was concentrating so hard she was forgetting to breath.They were closing down for the day and there was only a lad left as well as us. Now this lad, some months back, had to be wheeled into the gym, They would then side a sling under him and raise him up on a hoist and swing him to wherever they wanted him. He was still wheeled in but today they were video him to assess progress. He was running across the gym, bending over to pick up a bean bag then running back. Tremendous improvement. Speech is still erratic but improving. Sandra called him over and said for him to have a go on the Slalom. Well it was like watching a boy with a new Shoot-em-up game. He was over the moon, crashing into the trees, wiping out the flags. He said afterwards - "It was great". Sandra told him that he would be having several sessions on it. To us she said it would ease the pressure on the tremendously as they wouldn't have to concentrate so hard .

Sorry to ramble on. Only one snag at present is that the software package doesn't have a save function or ability to couple to their network so they can print off results for storing in folders or the patient's folder. The mnfr. is working on this though. As they were late, Sandra asked me to switch it off - must have words with her as to exactly what she meant by that. Anyway, never having used a laptop or this package before - no rodent! So I tabbed around, managed to exit the program and saw that it was running under Win95. Shut down then switched off so it could be safely stored.

Driving Anne back home and it struck me - the grey cells need a defrag - It must have the clipboard and Paint facility. So I E-mailed some suggestions to Sandra that she might have enough time to try. I'll be back with questions, possibly Mon, or before if I get an earlier response from Sandra. Must be able to come up with a simple routine where they can simply do a test and store/print the results.

You know this may not be off the topic after all.

[doug]

Where's the picture gone?

Those are my shoes.

[Guest nellie2]

Nice shoes Doug!!! :D Keep us posted!!!

[andsome]

You must be feeling well chuffed with yourself.

[doug]

Well, sort of. I asked how much exactly was the kit - apparently ~£3500. So I said I'd only got another £2500 to go. Why, I was asked. So you can pay back what you nicked from all the other little kitties. That raised a laugh. So I'll be pestering you lot again as soon as I get my registration through.

I'll also work on getting Sandra to produce screen shots for her files. If I can I'll post one in here. No reply from her to my E-mail suggesting a method to do it. She's probably to overworked to have checked her mail box. Might have some success on Monday when we go back.

Funny thing I took a blank floppy with me and the camera, just in case there would something to see. You know I can't find this floppy anywhere. Yesterday morning our washing machine packed up. When I turned the drum there was this clanking sound. So it's with our local electrical repair shop. Now where is that floppy. Wasn't the original specification to be that they would fit into a shirt pocket? Oh err! :blink: