Partial weight-bearing: How to correctly stay within load limits.
A patient’s review on STAPPONE Rehab
After a severe and very complicated tibia fracture with external burns, Markus Hänni spent a month in hospital. During this time, his leg was slowly mobilized with the help of partial weight-bearing. When he was discharged from hospital, he quickly realized how hard it was to adhere to the prescribed load limits, both in everyday life and when performing his therapy exercises at home. One question that even doctors and therapists had trouble answering was, for example, “Am I allowed to ride a bike, and can I still adhere to the prescribed load limit?”. Mr. Hänni started looking for a possible support and came across STAPPONE Rehab.
Mr. Hänni started with a very low load limit of 10kg, which was gradually increased. He initially trained the partial weight-bearing supervised by a physiotherapist the classic way with a personal scale on which the prescribed weight is statically exercised. He noticed that after a few steps without support, he very quickly lost the feeling for the correct load again. Mr. Hänni commented that, “With rudimentary physiotherapy using a scale, I think that hardly anyone has a sense of how much weight they are really putting on after a few steps”.
Valuable support in partial weight-bearing
Mr. Hänni started to look for a suitable support himself and came across STAPPONE Rehab. STAPPONE Rehab consists of the intelligent stappone sensor soles and the corresponding app. The soles are simply inserted into comfortable shoes (e.g., athletic shoes) and measure the patient’s foot pressure load. After the prescribed load limit is set on the app it provides visual, acoustic, and haptic feedback in case of underload or overload.
He immediately felt the benefit. “I noticed that with STAPPONE Rehab I can feel the right load very quickly, very well.” He uses the system for targeted training, but also in everyday life as well as outdoors, for example when he is running errands, to ensure that he remains within limits.
Excited doctors and therapists
Mr. Hänni also brought STAPPONE Rehab to his physiotherapy sessions. His therapist, even though she was not familiar with the system, was quickly convinced and immediately implemented it in the physiotherapy sessions. “With STAPPONE Rehab, I even learned to estimate my load to an accuracy of about 2 kg” the patient says.
His doctors’ reaction was very similar. They did not know the stappone solution either but were very interested.
For Mr. Hänni, the precise control of his partial weight-bearing was a great advantage. Especially when the load limit was increased, it provided him with the security to load correctly and to ensure the optimal outcome of his rehabilitation. “I also got courage to load my leg to the right limit and not to be too gentle out of fear. It was also very beneficial for my gait pattern because I place my foot more consciously while walking. “
Mr. Hänni used STAPPONE Rehab over the period of his partial weight-bearing for about 3 months and is very satisfied: “I would definitely recommend STAPPONE Rehab – actually I already have! “
We at stappone are pleased that with our product we were able to offer Mr. Hänni a successful and effective support.
Do you have questions about the use of stappone? Contact us! We are always at your disposal.
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