Martha Orders her Very Own Innowalk

In our quest for equipment to help with her on-going rehabilitation and daily physiotherapy, we were asked by Vida Global to trial a new piece of equipment called the Innowalk at a therapy conference in November. The device was designed in Norway and is commonly used by children there with disabilities as part of their daily physio routine. The Innowalk looks rather like a Cross Trainer but has a built in motor which provides assisted, guided and repetitive movement for the user in an upright, weight-bearing position. The movement of the legs in the Innowalk is similar to normal gait and it allows flexion and extension of the hip, knee and ankle joints. 

Martha walking in the Innowalk at the conference

Martha did incredibly well during the trial session and the physiotherapists at the conference were all blown away by how well she tolerated the movement. After just 12 minutes in the device, Martha’s usually tight ankle joints were flexible and the therapists all agreed that the equipment would be beneficial for Martha.

Together with our recent fundraising efforts, Martha's savings and very welcome donations by Ascot Round Table and Ascot Tangent, we were still only half way to our goal of raising £21,000 for the equipment by Easter. However, after a recent visit by the Sunninghill Trust we were absolutely delighted to hear that they had agreed to make up the funding difference by granting Martha £11,000. This is amazing news and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped us to reach our target even more quickly than we'd imagined.

The Innowalk is now on order and we hope to share more exciting news of it's arrival and Martha's progress in due course.