With the advances in modern medicine and science, TBI patients are enjoying a previously unheard of return to a normal way of life. Many of the new devices on the market now enable a person to walk with normal gait, while wearing normal shoes. This website describes three of the devices available today. New methods are being developed all the time, so check back for updates.
The first device to come out on the market in 1974 was known as the Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator or TENS. It was developed by Medtronic. In the late 1980s, EMPI purchased it from Medtronic. The TENS device was a hand-held functional electrical simulation device manufactured by Empi and worked with me to get insurance coverage to pay for it. This device uses electrical stimulation to try to reestablish contact with a muscle and to provide sensory input back to the part of the brain that controls the muscle. The therapist locates the muscle that controls the part of the foot, finger or arm that needs strengthening and places electrodes on that muscle.
Two new electrical stimuation devices have recently come out on the market: the Bioness L300 and the WalkAid from Hanger. Both of these devices incorporate sophisticated software that allows stimulation of the muscle during the appropriate phase of walking.