Ames Device

This piece is about a device developed at the Oregon Health & Science University which stimulates muscle function to rehabilitate paralyzed people.  It also measures movement over time to indicate progress in physiotherapy.  Though this reference doesn’t mention where the idea of muscle stimulation began, it’s worth remembering Sister Elizabeth Kenny—an unaccredited nurse from Australia—who believed that the conventional medical wisdom of immobilizing polio-ravaged legs in splints was completely misguided.  Despite the Australian, British and American medical establishments thinking she was an “ignorant quack,” Sister Kenny found a champion in Franklin Roosevelt and the field of physical rehabilitation, which the Ames device amply illustrates, took off.          MORE

Image Credit: Oregon Health & Science University