SportsArt ICARE Complete Body Weight Support System

EMPOWERING PATIENTS, ASSISTING CLINICIANS

ICARE’s intelligent control provides a movement that is neither always assistive nor always resistive. It is designed to provide an “assist as needed” approach similar to what a therapist provides physically and intuitively while gait training a patient. The ICARE frees clinicians from hours of strenuous manual lifting and improves patient access to assistive technology, allowing them to improve their walking and fitness.

ICARE is a fully-integrated system that provides a safe, effective method for assisting patients with neuromuscular disorders resulting from stroke, TBI, SCI and other injuries or conditions. The controlled assistive rehab design relieves a single clinician from hours of strenuous manual manipulation and expands patient access to assistive technology, allowing them to improve their walking and cardiovascular fitness.

Developed at the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital and Research Institute in Lincoln, Nebraska, ICARE’s intelligently-controlled, motor-assisted leg movements closely mimic the kinematic and electromyographic (EMG) patterns of walking. Noted in development studies, ICARE training can help individuals regain or retain walking and fitness in part because muscle and cardiorespiratory training demands can be customised to the unique needs of individuals during rehab and following discharge. Special focus was applied during development to ensure assistance, with partial body weight support and motor guidance of moveable foot plates and reciprocating handles, allowing individuals to accomplish the required repetitions.