The Niño Jesús Hospital and the Gregorio Marañón Hospital have incorporated two exoskeletons designed for the rehabilitation of children from 3 to 12 years of age with brain damage or spinal cord injury and who can stand and move freely.
These tools are unique in the world and will allow children like 9-year-old Adolfo to, for example, play ball, a task that was previously impossible for him, and that today he has shared with the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who has visited the hospital, accompanied by the Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero.
Adolfo has a congenital myopathy that prevents him from walking but thanks to this exoskeleton he can stand up and walk in the facilities of the Child Jesus, and have more autonomy, in addition to improving his cardiopulmonary resistance.
“Mom, I didn’t know what it was like to walk,” she told her mother, Alicia, when she was able to walk for the first time, thanks to the joint work of engineers, physiotherapists, mechanics, and all the specialists at the Niño Jesús Hospital.
The mother has been grateful that the Community of Madrid is committed to projects like this to give children like Adolfo “a future”, since it has allowed him to move his joints, maintain knee extension and not have to undergo surgery again, and play standing with his brothers.
Adolfo has gained strength and resistance in his legs thanks to this exoskeleton, which he has been using since last year at the hospital, and it allows him to make transfers in his wheelchair, because it also makes him move his upper limbs.
In addition, this device has benefits at the respiratory and digestive level and at the emotional level. “We have to take into account the mental health of the child with disabilities, children like him need to feel strong, they need motivation, and tools that give them hope and confidence in their future,” Alicia stressed.
Díaz Ayuso has assured that the incorporation of exoskeletons to the Madrid Health Service will be “a great advance for all the children who are going to benefit from this technology, for their parents, for the health professionals who go out of their way for their permanent improvement, for our healthcare, which is committed to innovation and increases its benefits to citizens; and for Spanish science”.
The exoskeleton supports the child from the trunk to the feet and allows him to move freely, even backwards. It is made up of eight active joints that provide full mobility in all directions and its dimensions are easily adjustable to the child’s growth.
