Stroke Survivor Rehab Stories
While working at Myomo over the past ten months, I have been amazed watching patients start to move their impaired arms again after using the mPower device. Perhaps more incredible than watching improvements in movement, is seeing the smiles on patients’ faces as they begin to feel more positive about their abilities and more confident to move around in the world.
David
David Karchem is a stroke survivor who has limited use of his left arm. He has been using Myomo since August and has reported a decrease in the tightness of his bicep muscle. “I notice my arm more, I carry stuff with it, even without the wearing the device,” says David. David has also seen improvements in his hand and with reaching. “I’ve started to get more tactile feeling in my fingers. My thumb is starting to move. I can straighten my arm in the pool.”
David lives just north of Los Angeles, California, and practices diligently with his Myomo device at home every day. After some practice, he has learned to put the brace on his arm by himself.
David working with his Occupational Therapist
Karen
Karen Brown suffered a severe stroke 4 years ago that impaired her abilities to walk, move her arm, and speak. She started working with Myomo at home in July. She is now beginning to walk with assistance and practices her speech using the English version of Rosetta Stone on her computer. With some effort, Karen says that she is more aware of her right arm. She knows that working with Myomo takes a lot of work. “It takes time – over and over and over,” says Karen.
Karen’s mom and dad are pleased with her results so far. “To have seen Karen move her hand, we knew it was directly related to both the hope but also the connections Myomo was making. It was waking up her body,” her mother, Lois, reports. “We are in awe with what Myomo and Karen are doing as partners.”
Her father, Al, is more technical, and believes in the plasticity of Karen’s brain after the stroke. This is the ability to create new neural pathways. “I believe Myomo supports the concept of plasticity. Anything that can support plasticity and biofeedback is important to recovery. We like anything that can assist you in doing repetition – devices like this.” Al has also seen new hope in his daughter. “Once a breakthrough happens, like with Myomo, good things start happening. Without that breakthrough, nothing happens”
Karen is planning to get married next year and has a lot of work to do before her wedding. She wants to be able to walk down the aisle without a cane, speak her vows, and give everyone at the wedding a hug. She hopes that working on her shoulder and arm movement with Myomo will give her the freedom to embrace all of her guests at the wedding.
Karen sitting between her parents, Lois and Al
Keith
Keith Gee also had a stroke 4 years ago. The stroke occurred in the right hemisphere of his brain, but did not severely affect his ability to speak. Keith started using Myomo at home just under a month ago, and is very enthusiastic with his results so far.
“I have never seen such gains in the past 4 years,” he states. "With your arm function?" I ask. “With anything," replies Keith. "Using Myomo is a visual confirmation that I have a left arm and muscle signal there. This has helped my motivation. I’m competitive with myself, and I’ll beat this.”
Keith wants other stroke survivors to not give up hope. “You don’t have to walk around like this forever. Don’t give up; don’t be satisfied with the current condition. If you go in with open eyes with Myomo, you can benefit from it.”
Watch Keith talk about his experience working with Myomo
Adam Riley
California Representative
Myomo, Inc.