Help me develop rehab equipment for the spinally injured
optimisticbiker
Posts: 1,657
3 years ago I broke my neck in a cycling accident which left me paralysed and tetraplegic. But enough of the sob story, this post isn't about me. Every 8 hours someone in the UK suffers a spinal cord injury through some form of accident; on average that's 3 or 4 cyclists a month - they're the ones you rarely hear about on the news. One of the guys I was in rehab with suffered exactly the same injury on a New Years Day ride in the woods; caught a tree root just wrong and landed on a tree stump.
One of the biggest problems for people in wheelchairs, especially tetraplegics, is getting enough cardio-vascular exercise and maintaining good blood flow to, and muscle tone in, their legs. One very effective way to do this is an FES bike. FES stands for Functional Electrical Stimulation. Conductive pads placed on the legs allow electrical impulses to fire the leg muscles and, with help of some clever electronics, cycle a specially adapted exercise bike.
I'm fortunate to live near a major Spinal Injury Unit and use an FES bike in the gym twice a week. I'd like to do it every day but the demand is high; for many spinally injured people access to an FES bike is simply impossible. Ideally I'd have one at home, but at between £10k to £20K per bike, owning one for most spinally injured people is even less likely (very few spinal injuries are covered by big insurance pay-outs).
I believe that a basic FES bike manufactured and provided by a not-for-profit organisation can be done much more affordably. I am in the final stages of design for such a bike but in order to get investment to set this up I need to build a couple of prototypes to prove the design and demonstrate the feasibility.
So I'm appealing for help to fund and build these prototypes. I've set up a crowdfunding appeal but I'm also looking for practical help. For example, a workshop that can machine and assemble parts for me at low cost, and an organisation that can assist with assembling/testing the electronics.
If you got this far, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any donations. If you can help in other ways please PM me.
One of the biggest problems for people in wheelchairs, especially tetraplegics, is getting enough cardio-vascular exercise and maintaining good blood flow to, and muscle tone in, their legs. One very effective way to do this is an FES bike. FES stands for Functional Electrical Stimulation. Conductive pads placed on the legs allow electrical impulses to fire the leg muscles and, with help of some clever electronics, cycle a specially adapted exercise bike.
I'm fortunate to live near a major Spinal Injury Unit and use an FES bike in the gym twice a week. I'd like to do it every day but the demand is high; for many spinally injured people access to an FES bike is simply impossible. Ideally I'd have one at home, but at between £10k to £20K per bike, owning one for most spinally injured people is even less likely (very few spinal injuries are covered by big insurance pay-outs).
I believe that a basic FES bike manufactured and provided by a not-for-profit organisation can be done much more affordably. I am in the final stages of design for such a bike but in order to get investment to set this up I need to build a couple of prototypes to prove the design and demonstrate the feasibility.
So I'm appealing for help to fund and build these prototypes. I've set up a crowdfunding appeal but I'm also looking for practical help. For example, a workshop that can machine and assemble parts for me at low cost, and an organisation that can assist with assembling/testing the electronics.
If you got this far, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any donations. If you can help in other ways please PM me.
Invacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph 
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Comments
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Hope everyone had a good Xmas. Thanks for the donations so far, but some more would be helpfulInvacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph0
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Happy New Year to all and safe riding in 2016.
Please consider a donation to help get this project off the ground and get some paralysed ex-cyclists pedalling again this year.Invacare Spectra Plus electric wheelchair, max speed 4mph0
