Rehabilitative Technology

The Acute Rehabilitation Center (ARU) provides a hospital-based, comprehensive and robust program for patients recovering from serious illnesses or injuries such as stroke, brain injury, amputation, and spinal cord injury. To treat these conditions, the ARU has implemented activity-based therapy focused on individual areas of recovery, incorporating technology as space and function allow.

Donations to the Muscular Skeletal Therapy Fund recently made it possible for the ARU to purchase an Andago gait trainer to safely support patients as they relearn to walk, and an ArmeoSpring arm and hand trainer to help patients regain motor function in their hands.

Dr. Karl Sandin, MD, MPH, former Medical Director of the Acute Rehab Unit said, “The equipment that we have like the Andago allows more repetition than a therapist could do with standard approaches. It’s a good treatment for helping people eventually outgrow the device, and go on to a cane or a walker that they can use in the community. More repetition, more safety, better outcomes.”

The portability and versatility of these devices have made them ideal for patients at the ARU. The Andago does not have size constraints, and does not require the therapist to hold or push the patient, increasing safety for all involved. The ArmeoSpring is interactive with technology, can support the patient’s arm weight, and helps achieve specific therapy goals.

The Foundation expresses its gratitude to all who have donated to the Muscular Skeletal Therapy Fund to make this technology possible at the ARU, the only facility of its kind between Salinas and Santa Barbara.