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In 2003, Connecticut-based Enduro Medical Technology put out a new product called the Secure Ambulation Module (SAM), based upon NASA technology. Since then, the company and its walker for physical therapy have made great strides into the marketplace. The adult version of SAM is now in use at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., as well as at Kindred Hospital of Greensboro, N.C. A youth version called SAM-Y also has been introduced.

The SAM walker provides a safe, stable, standing environment by placing the user in a pelvic harness connected to the wheeled frame. The key to SAM’s success is a cable-compliant joint mechanism developed at Goddard Space Flight Center. Originally used in robotics research at Goddard, the technology provided compliance when robots needed to grip or join objects, having enough “give” to keep the contact forces low while generating enough counter-force to activate sensors. Enduro licensed Goddard’s cable-compliant technology as well as an early version of the walker and developed SAM as well as a device called the Sit-to-Stand.

These devices are now improving the lives of our nation’s soldiers. At Walter Reed, SAM is being used to help patients with traumatic injuries to the spinal cord and brain. “These patients require their leg muscles to be rebuilt or have had their leg muscles start to atrophy while recovering from major surgeries,” explained Enduro’s president Ken Messier. “The stories of the assistance these soldiers are getting from SAM are quite remarkable.”

One active military patient who was wheelchair-bound for two years due to a thoracic spinal cord injury is now up and walking with SAM. “When we first put him in the walker, he was up and going for 25 minutes,” said Messier. “He’s now walking for up to 25 minutes every day and even using SAM to perform exercises to strengthen his leg muscles.”

Former Army sergeant Herbert Geddis of Springfield, Va., used the SAM walker as an integral part of his recovery from neurosarcoid, a rare disease that afflicted his spine, taking away all of his lower body muscle strength. “The SAM walker prevented my knees from buckling and helped me regain my mobility,” said Geddis. “I was able to graduate to the therapy on the parallel bars a lot quicker as a result.”

Physical therapists at Kindred Hospital have discovered yet another use for the device. “We use SAM with bariatric patients—individuals who are remarkably overweight,” said Mark Castleberry, director of rehabilitation services. “We have two SAMs, and are currently using one to aid a gentleman who is over 600 pounds.”

Castleberry explained that “bariatric patients in long-term acute facilities like ours are bedridden and have not used their legs for quite some time. Their legs cannot support their body weight, preventing them from rising to a standing position or walking on their own.” Using SAM reduces the pressure on the legs and allows them a chance for increased exercise until they are strong enough to stand on their own. “SAM helps us to help them strengthen their whole lower body,” said Castleberry.

But adults are not the only ones who can benefit from the SAM technology. At Space Day, an event at Goddard for sixth graders, Enduro demonstrated SAM-Y. “We probably had at least fifty kids try SAM-Y, including three who were in wheelchairs,” said Messier. By allowing children otherwise confined to a wheelchair to stand, SAM-Y improves circulation, trunk strength, kidney and lung function, and posture.

But perhaps more important are the psychological benefits offered by SAM-Y. “This was one of the few times those kids were able to be at the same height as their peers,” Messier remarked. “Their classmates were so excited, they were cheering them on.”

As C.T. Reed Elementary School teacher Linda Turner observed, “They obviously were having a good time and liked all the attention that they were getting. I think that the SAM-Y made it easier for them to walk. They both could stand up much straighter and did not seem to take as much effort as with their walkers.”

Contact

Innovative Partnerships Program Office
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Phone: (301) 286-2642
E-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov