Introducing Tailwind
Here you can learn about Tailwind™, a unique device that clinical studies have
demonstrated can permanently improve arm movement in stroke patients who
have lost upper extremity function - even years after their stroke event. The device is also helpful in improving arm function following brain injury, tumor and cerebral palsy. Tailwind is
a home-based exercise device developed by researchers at
the University of Maryland Medical School.
Effective for Stroke Survivors
Tailwind consists of two handles that move along independent
resistance-free tracks. The user moves the handles along each track
from different starting marks - and has auditory cues to guide when to
move his or
her arms. It is a "sound-to-brain" neural pathway retraining approach
that is theorised to help users with mild stroke symptoms achieve
life-altering results.
First of a Kind for Stroke
Tailwind has been demonstrated in clinical studies to permanently improve arm movement in stroke patients who have lost upper extremity function. In published
clinical studies, the science behind Tailwind was found to be a potentially useful solution in stroke rehabilitation.
So don't let discouragement from years of rehab that did not deliver the results you wanted prevent you from trying new Tailwind. If you have the motivation
to work with this device, research suggests it will work for you.
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Rehabilitation
in your own hands
Norris's story - Recovering Arm Movement after a Stroke
In 1998, I had a severe stroke that severely
limited my right side. I couldn't move my right arm or right hand as I
wanted, and couldn't seem to control my movements.
I was retired at the time, and didn't have the pressure of needing to do certain motions for my work, so I just learned to compensate. Like many stroke survivors, I would use my "good" arm and hand to do "double duty" for all the many small movements that are done in a typical day. Because my left side was fully-functioning, I could drive again 10 months after my stroke.
I was very motivated to try to regain the use of my right arm, and I'd go to my local gym and try to lift weights, working on my own. But I found that the gym was not set up for someone who had experienced a stroke and even the lightest weights were too heavy for me to work with and I wasn't comfortable trying to explain myself to the staff there.
For the most part, I thought that I had as much muscle recovery as I would be able to get.
But, in 2005, physicians at Kernan Hospital, a hospital renowned for its rehabilitation programs, referred me to a series of clinical trials testing new rehab equipment at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There, two physical therapists had developed an innovative new device - the BATRAC or the bilateral arm training with rhythmic auditory cueing.
The trials were working with patients who had experienced their stroke at least a year earlier, and even a few others were like me, with a stroke many years before the study. The BATRAC uses recorded sounds to cue patients to push two T-bar handles back and forth on a track. The repeated movements help the brain of stroke patients to re-learn arm and hand movements. These researchers showed that the brain can rewire itself after a stroke.
I was a very determined volunteer. First, I was in a control group but then I became part of the BATRAC clinical trial. I continued participating three times a week, for over a year. Within a short period of time, I started to regain gross right arm movements, then later, with the finer motor skills of my right hand.
The improvements came quickly, but then I'd hit a plateau. I had to work to keep up with the exercises, and then I'd make more improvements.
I had been driving for the eight years after my stroke, but I needed help with many small hand motor movements. After working with the BATRAC, I could cut up my own meat and literally break my own bread. I could do these "simple" acts because I finally had the strength and control in my right hand to use force to hold the food in place. Not only was I proud to control my utensils myself while eating at home, but I felt great eating out with my wife in a restaurant.
Now, I can play catch with my grandson. I want my grandson to remember us sharing those kinds of activities together.
In fact, I ran into an old friend who hadn't seen me since before I started my rehab therapy with the BATRAC, and my friend automatically extended his left hand to greet me.I really surprised my friend by extending my right hand to shake his!
I started my therapy with a graduated length push with the T-bars, and over time, I have extended the length I can push both handles at the same time, but I can also work at diagonal and raised angles, which are more advanced rehab positions.
You have to have determination but it's wonderful to be able to regain movement in my right arm and in my hand, after so many years!