Woman Becomes First Person to Own Exoskeleton That Helps Her Walk

Together with Cyclone Technologies, ARGO Medical Technologies Ltd. has provided 34-year-old paraplegic Claire Lomas with an exoskeleton system for personal use that helps her walk. The full weight of this accomplishment can only be understood by realizing that Lomas is completely paralyzed from the chest down.

One of the most famous victims of major paralysis was the late Christopher Reeve, the most well known face of Superman on the silver screen. Reeve became a quadriplegic (someone who suffers from paralysis of all limbs and the torso) after falling off a horse. Lomas, too, was injured during a horse-riding accident that left her paralyzed.

Lomas became the first person in the world to complete the London Marathon in a bionic suit in April 2012, and she raised more than £200,000 for spine injury research. As a result, she was chosen to light the celebration cauldron in Trafalgar Square to kick-off the 2012 Paralympics in London, England. She now is the world’s first person to take the exoskeleton system—called ReWalk—home for personal use.

“I am very excited to take the ReWalk home and incorporate it in my daily life,” said Lomas. “With the help of the ReWalk I am able to stand, walk, talk to my friends and family eye-to-eye, and exercise in a ways that I have not been able to since my injury.”

The new technology is manufactured by Argo Medical and supplied exclusively in the United Kingdom by East Yorkshire-based mobility solutions provider, Cyclone Technologies. The ReWalk reportedly enables Lomas to stand, ascend and descend stairs, and walk indoors and outdoors independently.

Lomas recently completed training at Cyclone’s rehabilitation and training center using the ReWalk model made specifically for institutional use. This model currently is available in clinics and medical institutions in United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain for training and therapy purposes.

“Years of research and hard work from a very talented team of engineers has made this product possible, said Larry Jasinski, CEO of Argo Medical Technologies. “We’re looking forward to seeing Claire build on her accomplishments alongside the Cyclone team, whose training is such a key component in ensuring that users get the most from the device. We are officially launching the ReWalk personal use system in the European Union with this start in the United Kingdom. It’s our aim to get as many individuals as possible walking again, and the launch of the ReWalk will allow customers to use the technology for a range of activities. It truly is the beginning of ‘Rewalking’ as a part of daily life.”

“What the team at Argo has achieved is truly remarkable, and we’re incredibly pleased to be supplying and training individuals like Claire to use such a revolutionary product, which for the first time ever, will see individuals with lower-limb disabilities using exoskeleton technology in their everyday lives,” added Dave Hawkins, Managing Director of Cyclone Technologies. “Since we introduced the institutional model of the ReWalk suit to the United Kingdom in May 2011, we’ve been inundated with enquiries from customers wanting to know when they could actually order their own ReWalk device and take it home after completion of their training, and I’m thrilled to say, now they can do exactly that.”

The ReWalk was invented by Israeli entrepreneur and Argo Medical Technologies founder Amit Goffer, Ph.D., who became a quadriplegic in 1998. The ReWalk helps individuals with lower-limb disabilities such as paraplegia, but in order to use the system one must have upper-limb mobility. It provides individuals with user-initiated mobility through the integration of a light wearable brace support, a computer-based control system and motion sensors.

“In 1997 when I was injured and became confined to a wheelchair, I looked around and wondered, ‘How come the wheelchair is the only solution?’ ” Goffer told the Focus electronic magazine of Technion – Israel Institute of technology. “I was just astonished by that. After studying the problems involved, I started to design the device at home.”

According to Focus, the exoskeleton is controlled by the user, who dictates when the system should help them stand, sit, or walk. The user also controls the system’s walking pace.

“It shifts a person from wheelchair-user status to crutch-user status, which is the whole difference,” Goffer said. “It helps a paraplegic to regain his self-esteem and be included back into society.”

Based in Israel, ARGO Medical Technologies develops, manufactures and markets walk restoration devices for people with lower limb disabilities.

Photo of the ReWalk System being used by Radi Kaiuf courtesy of ARGO Medical Technologies Ltd.