Ditch the “Crutch”
Working with Physical Therapists to help patients improve walking function with the goal of discarding their assistive device.
The Problem
There are 5,000,000 stroke survivors in the US and 800,000 new strokes per year. Of these approximately 30% suffer from foot drop, a mobility disability inhibiting individuals from lifting their toe while walking making them a high fall risk. While stroke is a major cause of foot drop, it can also result from MS, Parkinson’s, diabetic neuropathy, and orthopeadic injuries or surgeries. Our customer interviews have informed us the existing 123,500 rehabilitation centers cannot effectively treat foot drop with current methods and are left prescribing archaic, rigid braces that immobilize the ankle. Any attempt to treat the condition outside of immobilizing the ankle is extremely labor intensive involving one or two Physical Therapists and is still ineffective. The current care options are so limited clinics either turn away patients looking for foot drop therapy or they only see them for a few weeks for a “tune-up” knowing there is no long-term reimbursement for the limited outcomes.
Our Solution
We are providing clinics the ability to offer personalized robotic therapy to patients through adaptive software that provides a personalized assist as needed approach. This is the first ever clinically proven option to effectively treat foot drop. Our robot is easy to use and designed to be run by lower skilled clinic staff freeing up therapists to focus on more hands modalities. As we collect more data, the software will transition into an AI-based system to assess and assigns training protocols optimized for each patient’s deficit. The improved outcomes will allow clinics to provide reimbursable therapy using existing CPT codes for gait training on a patient base they currently have no treatment for. The device will be registered with the FDA as a Class 1 Exercise Device; and so, it can be sold and used WITHOUT FDA APPROVAL. Allowing NextStep Robotics to immediately generate revenue through: 1) Direct sales/leasing of robots; 2) Subscription to software service; 3) Service contracts.
Real Results
85% of participants in a small randomized study self discarded their ankle foot orthotics or reduced dependance of their assistive devices. These results were seen years post stroke, well outside of the usual 3-6 month recvovery window.
Forrester LW, Roy A, Hafer-Macko C, Krebs HI, Macko RF. Task-specific ankle robotics gait training after stroke: a randomized pilot study. Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation. 2016;13:51.
The NextStep Team
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Brad Hennessie CEOBrad is a former Lead Clinical Research Specialist from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is now leading the charge to take their device out of the lab and into the hands of PT’s to improve their patients’ lives. Working with his co-founders for almost a decade he has successfully raised over $1M to launch their young start-up.
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Rich Macko CSO
Rich is a Neurologist and Faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he is a leading expert in stroke recovery and has published over 150 articles related to the subject. Rich’s enormous amount of experience in grant writing and high-level research is helping the team focus on potential leads for federal grant funding.
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Anindo Roy CTO
Anindo is the Engineer behind it all, developing the control system that enabled our research to focus on robotic training while walking. As an engineer with a faculty appointment in the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Medicine Anindo has developed a unique perspective integrating robotics in to the recovery pathway.
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Larry Forrester Resident Scientist
Larry is the recently retired Director of the Baltimore VA’s Human Motor Performance Laboratory. Larry has nearly 2 decades of experience conducting rehabilitation research focused on therapeutic interventions to improve movement function after stroke and other neurological diseases.