Robots Massage Away Pain
Reported December 24, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Robots are no longer just a science fiction dream. They’re also part of our everyday lives. Robots help build our cars, vacuum our floors, and now, they’re also massaging away aches and pain.
Just two weeks before 23-year-old marine Mike Delancey was scheduled to return home from Iraq, his worst nightmare happened.
“The bullet hit and came through my left shoulder right here, and it basically travelled across my spine,” Mike Delancey, paralyzed marine, told Ivanhoe.
His family was told he wouldn’t make it.
“I knew … better purpose,” Delancey said. “It wasn’t my time to go.”
Delancey survived but was left paralyzed. Now, part of his recovery is getting his game back.
“If I try to do certain things like shoot a basketball, you know, it comes right here, and you don’t have that right motion,” Delancey said.
Mike turned to this robot for help. It works by lengthening tight muscles. A physical therapist positions the mechanical arm over the targeted area. Built-in sensors are programmed to apply a specific amount of pressure.
“It starts actually very subtly, moving and hunting, and it fools the muscle fibers to go and come apart,” Al Meilus, Meilus Muscular Therapy & Sports, Inc. told Ivanhoe.
After a chiropractor dislocated his joint, Dave Hutchieson was told he would never walk again. The former paratrooper didn’t lose hope. After a couple months with the robot, he was walking normally. Mike is seeing improvement too. He’s back in the game, and ready to roll with whatever his life brings.
The robot is operated by a trained physical therapist or a doctor. It’s designed to be used in conjunction with other therapies. A session with the robot costs about 150-dollars an hour, but in some cases, it’s covered by insurance.
For More Information, Contact:
Meilus Muscular Therapy & Sports, Inc.
St. Petersburg, FL
(727) 547-1233