Rehabilitation with the FLOAT
The FLOAT is a robotic 3D body weight support system that offers a level of training flexibility conventional rehabilitation cannot match. By enabling true three-dimensional movement in a safe, supportive environment, our technology helps patients improve postural control and neuromuscular coordination.
Key Advantages of Training with the FLOAT
Advanced Gait Rehabilitation after Stroke & Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury
Post-stroke and post-SCI hemiplegic gait impairments such as muscle weakness, spasticity, abnormal synergistic activation, and their interactions are usually the focus of early recovery since independent gait is a prerequisite to perform daily activities. The capacity to walk in a community setting requires the ability to walk at speeds that enable an individual to cross the street, to step on and off stairs, in and out of automatic doors, walk around furniture, and under and over objects.
How the FLOAT Features Accelerate Neuromuscular Rehabilitation:
Training Features
Precise horizontal assistive and resistive forces can be applied to address postural control, balance, improve walking speed, and more to facilitate a more natural walk.
Builds Functional Strength and Endurance
The 360-degree freedom of movement allows for the practice of essential Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)—such as walking around obstacles, sit to stand, and climbing stairs—that are crucial for navigating through the daily life.
Frees the Therapist to Focus on Movement Quality
As the patient is safely supported, the therapist can move freely around them, using their hands to guide limbs and facilitate correct movement patterns, rather than just physically bearing the patient’s weight.
Enables Training for Real-World Scenarios
Dynamic body weight support and integrated fall protection eliminate the fear of falling, allowing patients to train with more confidence and for longer durations.
Targeted Gait Therapy for Parkinson's Disease
For patients with Parkinson’s disease, therapy aims to address characteristic impairments like reduced stride length, postural instability, and freezing of gait. The FLOAT provides a multi-faceted and safe environment to implement evidence-based strategies that improve mobility, reduce fall risk, and enhance quality of life.
How the FLOAT Addresses Key Parkinson's Challenges:
Improves Balance and Reduces Fall Risk
The integrated fall protection allows therapists to safely use the Impulses feature to apply controlled perturbations. This is a key technique for training a patient’s reactive balance strategies in a secure environment.
Helps Overcome Freezing of Gait
The interactive VR Module can be used to provide visual cues on a screen and audio feedback. This evidence-based cueing strategy is highly effective at helping patients initiate and maintain movement, overcoming gait freezing episodes.
Enables Advanced Dual-Task Training
While the patient is completely secure, the therapist has free hands and open access to engage them in dual-task activities (e.g., tossing a ball, performing a cognitive task). This type of training is critical for improving real-world walking safely.
Enhances Motor Control and Gait Parameters
The FLOAT’s precise support allows for intensive, repetitive practice to increase stride length, improve walking speed, and refine overall gait patterns. Therapists can use targeted guidance to address specific motor control deficits relevant to PD.
Managing Gait & Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis
For patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), impairments in gait, coordination, and balance can significantly impact daily activities and quality of life. The FLOAT is specifically designed to address these challenges, creating a safe and effective environment to rebuild function and confidence.
How the FLOAT Helps in MS Rehabilitation:
Optimizes Functional Strength & Gait Control
With precise, multi-directional support and the ability to apply specific assistive or resistive forces, The FLOAT allows for highly targeted strengthening exercises. This focused approach helps build functional muscle strength and refine motor control necessary to combat weakness and improve gait quality, which are vital for daily mobility in MS.
Combats Fatigue & Boosts Endurance
The FLOAT creates a secure, controlled environment, helping to overcome common MS barriers like fatigue and fear of falling. By dynamically unloading body weight, it significantly reduces physical effort during exercise, enabling patients to perform a higher number of repetitions and engage in more intensive, longer-duration therapy before fatigue sets in. This also helps improve walking speed and overall endurance.
Enhances Balance & 3D Functional Mobility
The true 3D movement space provides patients the freedom and confidence to practice complex, real-world balance tasks—such as turning, stepping over objects, or navigating stairs—without risk of falling. This directly challenges and improves the coordination and balance often affected by MS, fostering greater functional independence in varied environments.
Increased Engagement & Motivation
The optional integrated VR experiences transform therapy into an immersive and motivating journey. By making sessions more engaging, the FLOAT further accelerates motor learning and encourages consistent participation crucial for long-term progress in MS rehabilitation.
Optimizing Orthopedic Rehabilitation & Functional Recovery
For patients undergoing prosthetic rehabilitation, the journey involves adapting to a new limb, achieving optimal weight-bearing, restoring a natural gait, improving balance, and mastering crucial daily activities. The FLOAT is specifically designed to meet these complex goals, providing a safe, controlled, and exceptionally realistic environment to accelerate adaptation and build confident, efficient ambulation.
How the FLOAT Facilitates Prosthetic Rehabilitation:
Optimizes Weight-Bearing & Gait Pattern
The FLOAT’s dynamic body weight support system allows therapists to precisely control weight distribution as a patient adapts to their prosthesis. This enables safe, incremental loading, essential for building trust in the limb and actively retraining a smooth, symmetrical gait pattern to reduce compensatory movements and energy expenditure.
Enhanced Balance & Reaction to Disturbances
Integrated fall protection and the freedom of 3D movement, the FLOAT provides the ideal environment for challenging and improving balance. Therapists can safely implement controlled perturbations (Impulses) to train a patient’s reactive balance strategies, vital for maintaining stability and preventing falls in unpredictable real-world scenarios.
Realistic Overground & Functional ADL Training
By allowing training on solid ground within an unrestrictive, 360-degree space, The FLOAT offers a profoundly life-like and transferable learning experience. Patients can safely practice complex Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) such as navigating obstacles, picking items off the ground, stair climbing, and performing turns, directly applying their skills to everyday challenges.
Accelerated Adaptation & Confidence Building:
The FLOAT’s secure and supportive environment eliminates the fear of falling, which is a significant barrier in prosthetic training. This confidence allows patients to push their limits, attempt challenging tasks, and engage in high-intensity, repetitive training, accelerating their adaptation process and fostering greater self-reliance.
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