Biodex Gait Trainer redesign now offers Integrated Music Therapy

SHIRLEY, N.Y. - Feb. 10, 2017 - PRLog -- Biodex Medical Systems, Inc., a provider of innovative medical devices, today announced the availability of the Gait Trainer 3 with a sensory enhanced option to include music therapists in the plan of care.

Biodex has made several advancements to their Gait Trainer 3 including an upgrade to Windows(R) operating system, larger display, improved user interface and normative value database, as well as new applications. But the capability to include neurologic music therapy is the breakout story.

Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) is used for pattern sensory-enhanced movement. Ideal for Parkinson's or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients, music therapy-informed compositions provide the rhythm to improve gait velocity and symmetry, modify stride length and improve step cadence. Combinging RAS with the inherent technology of the Gait Trainer 3 proves outcomes, objectively quantifying progress and validating clinical reasoning.

Used under the guidance of a Music Therapist (MT), the repetition of gait training addresses neuroplasticity combined with the appropriate compositions in the correct beats per minute (bpm) "fit to the patient" to elicit desired gait pattern. The Gait Trainer includes a starter library of compositions and enables music therapists to incorporate their own. Music can also be transferred to a patient's personal device to reinforce learning outside the clinical setting.

"The relationship here gives music therapists a tool we've not had before," explains Hope Young, President, Center for Music Therapy in Austic, Texas. The qualitative component of what is done musically is quantified and documented by the system's computer. The pre-test, comparison to normative data, and post-test results are presented in scientific data: the songs, bpm, the dates and progress are now part of the tretment conversation. This technology gives music therapists a seat at the table when planning patient care.

The Biodex Gait Trainer 3 is part of a series of devices to treat Parkinson's disease and other neurologic impairments. To learn more, please stop by Booth# 902 at the APTA Combined Sections meeting, or contact Biodex directly at 800-224-6339, by email at info@biodex.com or visit www.biodex.com/musictherapy.