Steppin’ out without style.

Why worry with canes or wheelchairs when you can get a lift like this?(Discoskater/commons.wikimedia.org)

Dressed to impress, she lurched across the room dragging that fancy cane behind her as if it were a fat, disobedient dog on a leash.

Who knows if it was result of attractiveness driven selected hearing or declining grey matter.

This was the one who for years smiled and lived in a total visual blur because “Men don’t make passes, you know. Glasses.”

No matter. In her own mind, glamorous still.

Quite so when younger: Perfect make-up. Strawberry blond hair cut and curled like a starlet’s. Wrapped in mink. Slouching with a debutante’s walk.

Won’t see herself as a Leaning Tower of Pisa buttressed to a gentleman ‘s elbow now.

A rollie walker was out of the question.

Instructions about anything was like trying to hand her fleeing dandelion  puffs.

Besides there was a real chance she might get a Rollie walker going, not be able to stop, and keep yelling “Where are the brakes on this darn thing?”

Think an unskilled but happy 14-year-old behind the wheel of a corvette convertible on a curved road during Spring Break.

“If Cesar can do it, so can I.” (USPD/Commons.wikimedia.org)

In her late 90’s, we managed to get her into a wheel chair.

Once seated she quickly transformed into Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.

Escorted in a golden chariot:  chin up, smiling to subjects along the way while urging great speed. Bingo was starting.

Getting from place to place with dignity is important.

Something you don’t think about until stroke, damage to the spinal cord or brain takes that skill away.

Sometimes an “unfortunate event”, leaves a person with an asymmetric walking pattern where one leg does not fully swing backward resulting in an uneven awkward gait.

It’s tiring, annoying, and darn embarrassing.

She’d sniff, “You can call it a fancy name, but can’t fool me. Looks like a child’s toy.” The GEMS shoe is put on the “good” foot/side to force the weak side to work and reestablish ability. The spirals rotate to normalize walking gait as shown in the videos.(Image Moterum website)

To help people make great strides instead of walking like a cartoon, researchers have gotten very creative with GEMS.

Step into this Rehabilitation Engineering and Electromechanical Design Lab to try on GEMS: the Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe (VIDEO)

• SciTech Now. Full Video episode 313 with the focus on GEMS starting at 13:00 – 19:00 (There’s other cool stuff here, too. Snow bikes and a wood collection with scientific importance, for example)
• PBS Video here.
• National Institute of Health: “Motion Controlled Gait Enhancing Mobile Shoe for Rehabilitation”
• Clinicaltrials.gov (US National Institute of Health/University of South Florida. ) Study currently recruiting participants.  Criteria here from the University. Or here (from company working with the University).

No help for dreamy aunt, but maybe others with young enough brain cells to absorb the concept and instructions. The woman in the video offers real hope.

My Aunt would never consider wearing one of those – in public or any place with a mirror. Vanity has its’ price

Besides there’s not doubt she’d get rolling and start yelling “Where’s the brakes for this darn thing?

A step beyond.

Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge.

“Do these come in red? Red goes with anything.” (SciTech Now/YouTube/WPSU)

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