APDM Wearable Technologies announces it has received a $1.6 million National Institute on Aging SBIR Phase II funding grant to commercialize a novel biofeedback system.

This funding will be used to develop an over-ground gait biofeedback rehabilitation system utilizing both visual and auditory biofeedback, enabling patients to rehabilitate in a real-world setting.

According to the company in a news release, this biofeedback system will be designed to not only be a fraction of the cost of instrumented treadmills, but will enable patients to walk in diverse, real-world settings at a self-selected pace.

More than 300 patients with various types of gait disturbances will be recruited for a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the biofeedback system in a physical therapy clinic. Northwest Rehabilitation Associates will manage data collection throughout the clinical trial, Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) Balance Disorder Lab will conduct scientific validation, and APDM will concentrate on technological development and analytics.

After each training session, the system will provide a summary of gait training including progress and outcome for each metric, and the total exercise time. This will enable physical therapists and scientists to document the effectiveness of gait rehabilitation with objective, validated metrics and help older adults on their path to independent movement, the release explains.

“With this biofeedback system we have the ability to not only capture the true metrics of gait but also the ability to relay them back to a patient in real-time,” says Mike Studer, president of Northwest Rehabilitation Associates and two-time recipient of Clinician of the Year by the American Physical Therapy Association, in the release.

“This affords us the opportunity to capture the attention and excitement of patients seeing themselves effect an immediate change,” he adds.

[Source(s): APDM Wearable Technologies, PR.com]