A safer step forward

Evolution devices launched its EvoWalk Platform pilot program to rehabilitate people with neurologically based partial walking paralysis. Evolution Devices combined remote neurologic physical therapy (PT) with the EvoWalk smart stimulation to help patients avoid falls and reclaim instinctual movement, empowering them to walk more freely.

The company focuses on foot drop, a condition that makes a person unable to lift their foot due to muscle weakness or nerve damage resulting from stroke or Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and can cause the person to fall. EvoWalk remote therapy allows patients to meet with physical therapists (PTs) virtually, providing them with personalized and comprehensive rehabilitation programs to help improve their mobility.

“We’re revolutionizing walking rehab by taking a holistic approach combining virtual physical therapy with an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered stimulation device to personalize care. For the millions of people living with mobility impairments, this isn’t currently available with any other fall-prevention or rehab therapy,” says Pierluigi Mantovani, co-founder and CEO of Evolution Devices.

Evolution Devices is conducting a pilot of the EvoWalk Platform through the company’s director of clinical services and neuro PT, Lisa Donahue (N.C.S., M.P.T., P.T.). UCSF Physical Therapy is running an EvoWalk clinical study. Earlier studies of EvoWalk revealed patients experienced up to a tenfold increase in their walking activity and improved their walking speed in eight weeks.

The evowalk device

EvoWalk is worn around the leg just below the knee, providing functional electrical stimulation (FES), helping the patient pick up their foot and walk more smoothly. EvoWalk applies electrical stimulation to the lower leg, acting as an artificial nerve, bypassing the non-functioning nerve responsible for lifting the foot and toes.

The device’s built-in sensors feed real-time motion data to AI algorithms, providing actionable metrics through connected patient and clinician mobile apps, driving patient engagement. The patient app makes it easy to monitor daily progress of key metrics, while the clinician app provides more detailed insights enabling PTs to remotely assess and refine their tailored rehab interventions.

Mantovani and his team of AI and neuroscience experts have been working on the device since 2017. Mantovani was inspired to build the EvoWalk to help his father with MS.

“My father’s MS caused trouble with mobility as he struggled with foot drop. The EvoWalk Platform has significantly improved his walking, even as his MS continues to cause other challenges,” Mantovani says.

One EvoWalk user, a hemiplegic stroke survivor with foot drop, finished a 5k run in just more than an hour, shattering his goal of 90 minutes for completing the race.

Evolution Devices: https://www.evolutiondevices.com