Walkasins May Restore Balance When Walking

Today's post from pr.com (see link below) talks about an interesting development in prosthetics to help improve balance while walking, for people living with neuropathy. As almost all of you with neuropathy problems in the feet will know, balance is a serious issue; leading to unexpected trips and falls and quite often injury. It's immensely frustrating and often alarming to realise that you can't trust or place your feet in the environment in which you move. Numbness, tingling, burning, pain or a combination of all of the above, lead to wrong signals and misplacement and you're constantly watching the ground and your feet to avoid accident. Any technological development such as these Walkasins is therefore extremely interesting. They do initially look a bit 'clunky' and remind you of ankle tracking technology used for criminals but hey...wear long trousers! Reading the article, it seems that the trials were small and the technology is not yet widely available on the market but it's comforting to know that companies are seriously investing in this area and it's been a long time coming.

New Balance Technology Helps Diabetic Man Walk Again
Minneapolis, MN, May 10, 2017 --(PR.com)

 “I put them on, and it was like a miracle,” says neuropathy sufferer and study subject, Mr. Tim Kelley. Walkasins work by restoring sensory signals that are not functioning normally in patients with neuropathy. This immediate restoration of sensory function also impressed Dr. Diane Wrisley of Wingate University. “His brain learned to use the Walkasins immediately," says Wrisley. "He put them on and it was like, ‘Wow! I know where I am in space.’ His improvement is phenomenal.”

 

RxFunction, manufacturer of Walkasins® - the first Wearable Sensory Prosthesis to help improve balance, announced exciting results from an ongoing research study at Wingate University on the long-term benefits of Walkasins use. Walkasins help improve gait and balance in patients who have peripheral neuropathy, a condition that significantly increases the risk of falling due to loss of balance. The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy reports an estimated 40 Million Americans have some form of peripheral neuropathy, most commonly due to diabetes or chemotherapy.

Over 40% of diabetic patients develop neuropathy, which negatively affects quality of life and confidence to walk without falling.

“These exciting results have exceeded our expectations and illustrate how Walkasins can significantly improve the lives of millions of patients who experience gait and balance problems due to peripheral neuropathy,” says Dr. Lars Oddsson, co-inventor of the technology and President of RxFunction. “This is a game-changer that can improve health and quality of life and help decrease healthcare costs,” says Dr. Oddsson.

With neuropathy, “you don’t know where your feet are in space,” says Dr. Diane Wrisley, Principal Investigator of the study and Director of Post-Professional Programs for Wingate University’s Department of Physical Therapy. “It’s like you’re walking with bricks on your legs.”

Tim Kelley, a volunteer participant in the research study at Wingate developed diabetes three years ago. Kelley lost his truck driving license, his career of 31 years, as he became unable to drive due to his peripheral neuropathy. Over the next three years, Mr. Kelley lost confidence in his ability to walk and move safely, gained 30 lbs and even used a wheelchair for getting around. He attended physical therapy in the months leading up to the study but had noticed limited improvements.

Mr. Kelley has shown dramatic changes following his participation in the Walkasins study at Wingate University. “I put them on, and it was like a miracle,” Kelley says. Walkasins work by restoring sensory signals that are not functioning normally in patients with neuropathy. This immediate restoration of sensory function also impressed Dr. Wrisley; “His brain learned to use the Walkasins immediately. He put them on and it was like, ‘Wow! I know where I am in space.’ His improvement is phenomenal,” Wrisley says.

Dr. Wrisley has tracked Mr. Kelley’s improvement in gait and balance using standardized measurement tools, the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) and the Mini Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BEST). After a month of daily Walkasins use, these measures have continued to improve even further. “We may be maxing out the FGA and Mini-BEST. He almost has perfect scores in them,” Dr. Wrisley said. What this means for Mr. Kelly is that he has gone from using a wheel chair to get around to now where he can walk 2-3 miles with confidence.

Dr. Wrisley has seen Mr. Kelley’s self-confidence improve immensely with Walkasins use as measured by the Activities Specific Balance Confidence scale (validated clinical outcomes measure). Patients with a confidence score below 67% are predictive to have an 84% chance of falling. Mr. Kelley has changed from 24% to 74% (on a zero to 100% scale).

Another measurement of improvement is Mr. Kelley’s increased walking speed which has improved more than 0.5m/s since using Walkasins. Walking speed is an important indicator of overall health and has been termed “the Sixth Vital Sign”; it’s a simple measure that can predict future health status, physical decline, adverse events and even death. Studies have associated increments of 0.1 m/s of walking speed improvements with improved health status, less physical disability, fewer hospitalization days, and a one-year reduction in medical costs of $1,188.

“We’re thrilled to be able to report these results during Peripheral Neuropathy Awareness Week,” says Dan Leach, CEO of RxFunction. “We’re energized by the exuberance shown by our trial patients and are looking forward to helping millions of people who have peripheral neuropathy with the release of Walkasins later this year.”

Interview with Mr. Kelley (trial patient at Wingate University, NC): youtu.be/MEq-nRnsAVU
Once on the market, Walkasins will be available by prescription following an assessment for neuropathy, clinical need, and physical benefit.

About RxFunction Inc.
RxFunction Inc. is a wearable technology company with an initial focus on developing and leading a new business segment within the U.S. medical grade assistive technology marketplace. The Company’s vision is to improve physical ability for social participation and quality of life. Privately held and headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, RxFunction has taken assignment of patented technology developed by Co-founder, Dr. Lars Oddsson, as a research professor at Boston University’s Neuromuscular Research Center, and funded by Edina, MN Investment Bank, Cedar Point Capital, and the NIH’s National Institute on Aging (SBIR Grant AG040865). Walkasins have not been submitted to the FDA for review, and are not available for sale at this time.

Additional information about RxFunction is available at www.rxfunction.com
Press Contact: Dan Leach, dleach@rxfunction.com

http://www.pr.com/press-release/715825

DELAY IN AGE OF WALKING CAN HERALD MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY IN BOYS WITH COGNITIVE DELAYS

The timing of a toddler's first steps is an important developmental milestone, but a slight delay in walking is typically not a cause of concern by itself.

Now a duo of Johns Hopkins researchers has found that when walking and cognitive delays occur in concert, the combination could comprise the earliest of signals heralding a rare but devastating disorder known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

The study, published ahead of print in The Journal of Pediatrics and conducted by a medical student and a pediatric neurologist, reveals that delays in the onset of walking -- which should occur between 9 and 16 months of age -- are common among boys with DMD and often happen alongside cognitive delays. That combination, the investigators say, can give pediatricians a critical early diagnostic clue and tip them off to the presence of DMD.

"Our review of patient records shows that delayed walking along with cognitive delays represents an ominous combination that should prompt pediatricians to conduct further testing and could speed up diagnosis and treatment," says Kara Mirski, a fourth-year medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "Earlier diagnosis means that we can start treating these kids sooner and greatly improve their long-term outcomes."

DMD is caused by a defective muscle protein. It is marked by progressive loss of muscle strength and function and, eventually, inability to walk at all. In its advanced forms, the condition can also compromise the function of the heart and breathing muscles. DMD, which almost exclusively affects males, is estimated to occur in one out of 3,500 boys.

Current guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society do not include DMD on the suspected diagnoses list for boys with developmental delays. While neither cognitive delays nor delayed walking by themselves are necessarily caused by DMD, when the two occur in tandem they should raise the index of suspicion and seriously narrow the range of diagnostic possibilities, the team says.

"The bottom line is that any delay in walking should lead to further probing, or at least vigilant monitoring, and when late walking occurs in the context of other developmental delays, it should put DMD on every pediatrician's radar as a possible cause," says study author Tom Crawford, M.D., a pediatric neurologist and muscular dystrophy expert at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

Once a physician suspects DMD, a child can be screened further with a cheap and widely available test that measures the blood levels of creatinine kinase (CK), a protein released as a result of muscle damage or muscle cell death. Normal CK levels rule out DMD.

Once diagnosis is made, treatment with steroids and physical therapy can halt or slow muscle damage and help preserve mobility and function, the researchers say. In addition, because most cases of DMD are inherited, earlier diagnosis would allow families to consult a genetic counselor who can help them make informed decisions about subsequent pregnancies.

DMD can be easily missed during the infant and toddler years, even among children with developmental delays, Crawford notes. The condition's characteristic muscle weakness does not present at such an early age, and the absence of the disease's defining symptom can easily throw off pediatricians. This is why, Crawford says, any developmental delay should prompt pediatricians to probe deeper.

In addition, while most cases of DMD stem from inherited genetic defects, some genetic mutations can arise spontaneously in families without history of the disorder. In those cases, diagnosis can be delayed even further, until a child is 5 or 6 years old, the researchers say.

For the study, the investigators examined the clinical records of 107 children with DMD referred to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center between 1989 and 2012 for diagnosis or treatment. Nearly half (42 percent) had a history of delayed walking (age 16 months or later). Toddlers who started walking late were three times as likely to have cognitive delays as those who began walking on time. The link between the time of a child's first steps and cognitive delay persisted even when investigators eliminated other factors such as the speed and severity of muscle degeneration or age of diagnosis. The study also revealed that DMD patients who started walking late were not referred for diagnostic work-up any earlier than their counterparts who started walking at what is deemed a typical age. In other words, delayed walking did not emerge as the red flag it should have been, the investigators say.