HELP NEEDED!!
We have managed to acquire a piece of equipment for a 3 months trial and we desperately need to raise awareness that this service is here and what it can do.
LITEGAIT – WHAT IT CAN OFFER
We all know the benefits of walking. Government and NHS guidelines are always promoting the positive health benefits of walking 20 minutes, several times a week. But what happens if you can’t walk or balance well enough to even give it go? What are your options then?
Litegait is a harness that can support a person’s body weight and that can be precisely adjusted to support someone into standing and while walking over a treadmill. If someone has a stroke, they can be given more support on one side than the other. If someone struggles to keep upright they can be given more support at the front. If they have very limited lower limb strength, they can have most of their weight supported but are still free to experience walking safely and with all the benefits it brings.
Meanwhile, I am free to assist with leg and body movements to help them regain their normal movement or retrain their balance. The person themselves can walk further and with much less effort.
The potential benefits are huge for someone who is not able to walk at all or unable to walk far, or even just lacking in balance. On top of improving their standing balance and walking, they will be improving; their heart health, lung function, maintaining/improving muscle length and strength and helping to avoid complications of immobility such as falls, pressure sores, contractures (muscle shortening), chest infections and urinary tract infections.
SO THE CHALLENGE?
To raise awareness that this service is here and what it can do. To get people through the door and gather evidence of how much this can improve people’s walking and quality of life in the community. Then I can start desperately trying to find the funds to purchase it – so that this brilliant resource is available to Teignbridge for the foreseeable future!
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
I worked for many years in rehabilitation in the NHS.
NHS rehabilitation services were fabulous. Over the last ten years, however, services have been eroded and put under enormous pressure; Staff numbers have been cut, rehab units closed meaning young people with complex conditions are often ending up in nursing homes instead, all the while the number of people needing to be treated is rising rapidly.
Staff everywhere are working tirelessly to find new and cost effective ways of delivering vital rehab to their patients, often under incredible restrictions. The general drive has been to get people home earlier and look after them in their homes. While this seems a great idea, it comes with a number of problems.
- There are simply not enough community staff to see and treat people in their homes.
- As such, the numbers of sessions are often limited and guidelines for continuing rehabilitation are very strict.
- No matter how inventive you are, there is only so much rehab possible within the confines of a person’s home.
- Manual handling and safety concerns, space restrictions and lack of equipment, limit the amount of people you can stand and walk without putting them or you at risk of injury.
**** Increasingly, people are at home “managing”- able only to do minimal walking or even just transferring from bed to chair. They may be at risk of falls or just have a fear of falls, which prevents them moving around more or getting out of the house. Their quality of life is restricted by the absence of services to help them continue to work on their walking and everyday function if they wish. While there are a number of great exercise classes and support groups available, if you are more severely affected in your abilities, again there is a limit to how much you can safely do within them. ****
MY OPINIONS ON LITEGAIT
- I have seen some AMAZING sessions with Litegait. I am really passionate about this piece of equipment and the benefits it can bring, and have put my money where my mouth is to enable this trial to happen.
- I believe that the South West desperately needs this kind of service and would like to find the evidence to prove this for two reasons; firstly to help me secure the funds to purchase the equipment at the end of the trial and secondly to help me get additional funding to make these sessions available to more people, either for free or at affordable prices.
- I can’t do this, without getting people in to try it. I am therefore raising awareness of it in as many ways as I can and offering initial sessions at half price for as long as I can!
- So far, existing clients are experiencing the benefits; One gentleman, who is normally only able to stand with an aid for about 20 seconds, has been able to stand and work on his lower limb strength for over 10 minutes in one session, as well as taking his first steps in 3 years!
- Another lady became emotional and said while using Litegait, “That is the first time my walking has felt normal since my stroke.”
- Sadly, as I am helping people on the machine at the moment I have no video footage of people using it (yet!) but please follow these links to find out more or contact me on 07775 844839. Thank you for reading.