| abstract: |
Stroke is the most common cause of adult disability in Europe. Roughly 75 % of the victims survive, but about half of these lose the ability to live independently in their own home. Rehabilitation and hospitalization represent a major economic burden for the EU of about €34Bn annually. Currently the annual incidence is approximately 2 per 1000 inhabitants in the EU, and the number is predicted to double over the next 50 years due to aging of the population. WHO Regional office for Europe’s stroke strategies for 2015 states that the goal for rehabilitation after stroke is that three months after the onset of stroke, over 70% of the surviving patients are independent in their activities of daily living. Based on the need to improve rehabilitation and increase the independence of stroke victims this project will develop a user friendly device that can support the patient in raising from sitting to standing position and enable the patient to perform walking training, with correction to correct walking pattern, and by that improve the maneuverability for many patient groups. The WalkX will in addition offer upper body support and balancing support to the user. The WalkX can be programmed as a robot enabling the user to follow the walking device or if gaining more body control to push the WalkX when walking and training. It is intended to be used in rehabilitation centers and with less need for physical support from therapists, it provides longer and more intense therapy sessions for the patients. It is estimated that the total market of WalkX is €250Mn in Europe. The SME participants in this project represent the European Medical Device Industry, comprising over 8 500 businesses where more than 80% are SMEs. The European companies are threatened by strong competition from USA and Japan and will by this project strengthen their market position. |
