mobility aids

Wandercraft has launched Walk in New York, a new rehabilitation center that offers access to its advanced mobility devices for people with severe walking impairments, including those with multiple sclerosis (MS). The center provides sessions with neurological rehabilitation therapists and walking sessions with its robotic exoskeleton,…

Note: This story was updated March 22, 2024, to note Neural Sleeve is now licensed to ship to 47 states.   Cionic has added three neurological medical centers to its national Centers of Excellence program as part of its continuing effort to expand the availability of its Neural Sleeve…

Multiple Sclerosis News Today is chronicling MS advocate and podcaster Mike Parker’s journey, leading up to a skydiving jump he’ll make Oct. 29 to benefit the MS Society U.K. Learn more about Mike at mikesmsjourney.com. You can also donate to his fundraiser.  Third in a…

Neural Sleeve, a bionic piece of clothing by Cionic designed to help with walking and strength, is among the 200 devices on Time magazine’s annual list of best inventions, under its accessibility category. The lightweight, leg-worn device, which combines continuous motion analysis with functional electrical stimulation,…

About a month ago, I embarked on what might have been my last-ever solo outing. You can file it away with my other lasts: sitting down and getting off the sofa on my own, walking without mobility aids, doing a controlled Frankenstein’s monster stumble into my bedroom, putting myself to…

My mobility scooter died last week. I can walk 100 feet or so using a pair of canes, but my wheels are usually my legs. So when I turned the key and discovered those “legs” were powerless, I was in a bind. This breakdown couldn’t have happened at a worse…

Cionic’s Neural Sleeve, a leg-worn garment designed to boost strength and walking performance in people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS), has won multiple awards in this year’s International Design Excellence Awards program. The event, organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), is touted as one of…

My wife, Laura, thought it would be fun to take our grandkids, ages 7 and 9, to spend a few hours exploring a giant cave. I wasn’t so sure. Ten minutes into the excursion, I was wondering which one of the adults would be hauled out in an ambulance. This…

The PoNS device — officially the Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator, designed to help improve walking ability in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) — has been granted the accreditation needed for Medicare and Medicaid coverage in the U.S., according to Helius Medical Technologies, which makes the device. That designation, called…

I’ve done quite a bit of flying, for business and pleasure, over the 42 years I’ve lived with multiple sclerosis (MS). It’s not easy traveling by air with my scooter, and I can’t imagine trying to fly with a 450-pound power wheelchair. Actually, I don’t have to imagine.

Ah yes, I’m starting this week’s column with a headline that’s a conundrum (that is, if the ol’ editor lets me keep it). That’s because I’m starting with a slang word. I’ve checked, and it seems that the main slang word for diarrhea both in the U.K. (where I…

Oops! I took a turn too fast in the parking lot of my condo the other morning and tipped to the left. And with that, my mobility scooter and I headed for a fall. Do you know the feeling when something bad is about to happen and there’s nothing…

Helius Medical Technologies has extended by six months a program that allows multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the U.S. to access its Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS) device at a reduced cost. The Patient Therapy Access Program (PTAP) partly subsidizes the cost of using PoNS — an…

For National Physical Therapy Month, Helius Medical Technologies is spotlighting physical therapists who make possible the success of the company’s portable neuromodulation stimulator (PONS) device to treat gait problems in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Helius will broaden access to its free online PoNS training program by enabling…

Cionic has collaborated with the multidisciplinary design firm fuseproject to further develop its artificial intelligence-powered, wearable Neural Sleeve, which improves mobility for those living with conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The partnership with Yves Behar and his firm fuseproject resulted in a design that focuses on…

For the second year, the communications and software company Windstream is supporting the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, touted as the world’s largest annual wheelchair sports event exclusively for military veterans. The event is for all U.S. veterans with a spinal cord injury, amputation, multiple sclerosis (MS), or other…

An assistive device made it significantly easier and more comfortable for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with arm and hand mobility problems to self-administer nabiximols — an oral spray containing compounds found in the cannabis plant — a study found. Trained nurses involved in the study agreed with its…

A few weeks ago, my cane mutinied. I’ve been using canes for about 20 years — first one, and then a pair. I’m tough on them and put a lot of weight on them. I take them out in the heat, cold, and rain. I force them to rest on…

It’s not easy going for a cruise when a scooter and a couple of canes come along for the trip. I’ve done it with success a number of times in the past, and planning helps a lot. My wife and I just returned from our first first cruise since…

It was a moment of clarity. Unfortunately, my attempt at making a bright, clear consommé has for the moment turned into a muddled chowder! Even worse, it was writing this column that started it. I’ve written so often in this column about using my Molift assistive device for transfers…

As I glance over at the lonesome wheelchair skulking in the shadows of my living room, I recall its arrival like it was yesterday, though it’s been more than four years. My husband, and then carer, had paraded it through the house as if it were a savior, there to…

People in a Neural Sleeve gait study were reported to show an “average improvement” of 143% in foot drop, a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other conditions that hinder mobility, its developer, Cionic, reports. The wearable “bionic” device — which analyzes, predicts,…

I was tryin’ to find lots of things to do while being trapped at my desk because of a wheelchair mishap. Apologies for my adaption of Bing Crosby’s rendition of that happy-go-lucky song “Busy Doing Nothing.” I was trapped because at 8 p.m. last Friday night, the wire that…

I wish I could walk a mile in my shoes, but even with a new pair, that’s not going to happen. My MS limits me to about 100 steps while using two canes and a functional electrical stimulation device strapped under my left knee. Because walking is so difficult,…

It’s all happening at once. Yesterday, a box turned up with my new lymphedema wraps, which use compression to help reverse my lymphedema symptoms. I’ve been waiting for the wraps for nearly a month. It turns out I’m such an unusual size that they had to be imported from…

“Sorry, the brakes are terrible!” my husband complained, grabbing the wheelchair’s handles as I slowly started rolling down the hill. He jammed his foot in front of the wheel in a desperate attempt to get the chair to stay in place. We recently got away for the weekend to Blackpool…

Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) treatment may delay the need for a wheelchair by seven years in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), a study reports. This delay, drawn from clinical trial data on treatment- versus placebo-group patients and supported by real-world findings, likely translates to long-term benefits for PPMS patients,…

Helius Medical Technologies has submitted its response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s request for more information about the company’s application for de novo classification and clearance of its portable neuromodulation stimulator (PoNS) device to help treat walking difficulties in people…

I’ve been walking with the Bioness L300 Go for about eight months, so it’s time to update everyone on how things are going. The L300 Go is a functional electrical stimulator (FES) that helps counter my foot drop. MS has damaged the nerve that carries the message telling my…

ReWalk Robotics is preparing to implement agreements allowing it to distribute in the U.S. two new neuro-rehabilitation devices for people with motor disabilities, including those with multiple sclerosis (MS), spinal cord injury, and stroke. Under these agreements, the company will become the sole U.S. distributor of…