AI: Stroke patient helped to walk by high-tech trousers

From BBC.com (Aug. 15, 2023):

Julie Lloyd, 65, is part of the UK's first trial of the "smart garment" that she described as a breakthrough for fellow stroke patients.

The "NeuroSkin" trousers stimulate her paralysed leg using electrodes controlled by artificial intelligence.

The Stroke Association said new technologies are giving hope to the UK's 1.3 million stroke survivors.

The developers of NeuroSkin said the invention is already revolutionising stroke care in France, but Ms Lloyd is one of the first involved in the UK's own trial.

"My leg is almost feeling as if it's being guided," she said.

Ms Lloyd took part in the UK trial at her physiotherapy clinic in Newport.

After first experiencing an uncomfortable "tingling feeling", she said that within a few minutes she was walking unaided for the first time in six months.

"[My leg] was suddenly propelled up from the floor and made me feel safe walking, and that's the part that I've honestly not felt at all with all the physio I've had," she said.

"I've never felt since my stroke as elated as I feel this moment."

The businesswoman, from Penarth in Vale of Glamorgan, had a minor stroke in January which resulted in her left arm and left leg being partially paralysed. She currently relies on a cane to walk.

"Life before was very energetic, very active," she said, explaining how she ran the Cardiff half marathon before her stroke. "It has taken away a lifestyle I had and that's been terribly tragic."

Her rehabilitation involves hours of repetitive exercises aimed at "teaching" her brain to work around the area damaged by the stroke and make new connections to control her left side.

The progress has been slow and gruelling. But when she got to about 3,000 steps a day with a cane, her physiotherapist recommended she enter the trial of the AI-powered tech. [read more]

Good for her! Glad the tech could help her walk.