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Now Available: State-of-the-Art Gait Training Device to Help Millions Walk More Normally Again

HAIFA, Israel, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Millions of people in the US have diseases or conditions that affect their ability to walk. For many of them, traditional walking aids such as canes and walkers are a disappointing substitute for being able to walk normally and live independently.

Now there's a high-tech yet easy-to-use gait-training device, the GaitAid Virtual Walker from MediGait LTD, that is bringing these people new hope for more normal walking -- and living.

GaitAid Helps Restore Normal Walking Patterns

GaitAid works two ways to achieve often-remarkable results:

    1. GaitAid users commonly find themselves walking normally from their first
       step. But the immediate results are just the start of GaitAid's
       effects.

    2. Over time, the device "rewires" the wearer's brain to
       follow a healthier walking pattern -- an effect  that frequently
       continues even when it isn't being worn. This process (called
       neuroplasticity) essentially creates new, healthy nerve circuits that
       bypass the disease-damaged areas associated with walking.

A Breakthrough Device

Developed and patented by MIT-educated Yoram Baram, PhD -- Founder and CEO of MediGait LTD -- the GaitAid Virtual Walker is the only gait-trainer of its kind, combining virtual-reality programming and real-time motion detection in a simple-to-use, cell-phone-sized device.

Large US Population Could Be Helped

The GaitAid Virtual Walker is transforming the lives of many people coping with illness and aging who had thought they could never walk normally again. But these GaitAid users are only part of a much larger population of people like them, over 8 million, who could potentially be helped by the device:

    --  500,000 with Parkinson's Disease,
    --  Up to 350,000 with Multiple Sclerosis,
    --  An estimated 800,000 with Cerebral Palsy,
    --  6,500,000 Stroke survivors, and

    --  The  elderly, of whom 30% fall at least once per year -- 50% of those
        over 80.

The short training sessions facilitate GaitAid's use to improve walking in institutional and rehabilitation settings as well as at home.

The GaitAid Virtual Walker is available for purchase by individuals or their caregivers as well as physicians, physical therapists, hospital rehabilitation clinics, nursing homes, and assisted-living communities who wish to offer the training as a value-added service.

About MediGait LTD and GaitAid Development:

Yoram Baram received his PhD from MIT and is a Professor of Computer Science and incumbent of the Roy Matas / Winnipeg Chair in Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. The idea for the GaitAid Virtual Walker was sparked 12 years ago while Professor Baram was designing a mechanism for NASA to navigate low-flying helicopters around obstacles. The concept of the design, which Professor Baram later applied to development of the GaitAid trainer, is that the optical images of objects help the observer navigate, stabilize, and pace movement in space.

For more information on GaitAid please visit www.medigait.com, 888-777-9906, support@medigait.com

SOURCE MediGait LTD