Mountain Valley Regional Rehabilitation Hospital is the first facility in Northern Arizona to offer patients a new robotic service called ZeroG Overground Gait and Balance Training System. The advanced technology – which helps patients balance and walk independently – is a robotic body-weight support system mounted to a motorized trolley that rides along an overhead track.
ZeroG helps patients practice balance and walking skills independently and safely without risk of falling. The system compensates for weakness and poor coordination, which we believe will help accelerate therapy and maximize results.
During therapy, a therapist secures the patient into a comfortable harness that attaches to the ZeroG robot. The amount of support is individualized for each patient depending upon his or her ability level. Because the system prevents falls, the patient can participate in therapy with greater safety and confidence.
Dynamic body-weight support provides a consistent level of assistance during activities such as walking, balancing, climbing stairs, getting up and down from a chair or reaching activities. The system is designed to allow patients to safely practice at a higher level of intensity. As the patient progresses, the amount of dynamic support can be decreased so he or she does more under their own effort.
The system features real-time biofeedback for balance activities and interactive games. Patients are trained to move in response to targets on a screen, which requires them to mirror the activity physically to score points. ZeroG then records data from each therapy session so therapists can monitor functional progress.
ZeroG is one of the tools used at Mountain Valley Regional Rehabilitation Hospital to provide specialized rehabilitative care to patients recovering from disabilities caused by strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and orthopedic injuries. The hospital also provides intensive rehabilitation services to individuals living with neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease and those needing specialized care following cardiac surgery.
The hospital’s patient care efforts have been recognized nationally for the past nine years in a row, ranking them among the Top 10 percent of inpatient rehabilitation facilities in the United States. The hospital also has received The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and the organization’s disease-specific certifications for Stroke Rehabilitation and Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation. FBN
By Erin Aafedt
Erin Aafedt is the director of therapy operations at Mountain Valley Regional Rehabilitation Hospital.
Mountain Valley Regional Rehabilitation Hospital is a 44-bed, free-standing rehabilitation hospital that provides intensive physical rehabilitation services to patients recovering from strokes, brain and spinal cord injuries, orthopedic injuries, and other disabilities caused by injuries, illnesses, or chronic conditions. The hospital is consistently ranked in the top 10 percent of inpatient rehabilitation facilities nationally by the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSMR).
For more information, visit MVRRH.ernesthealth.com.
3700 N. Windsong Drive • Prescott Valley, AZ 86314 • 928-758-8800 • mvrrh.ernesthealth.com
