Dietbert Vogt looks as if he has been carved from a piece of granite. Standing tall at 1.85 metres, the steel construction worker used to work on building sites in any kind of weather. But, in a matter of seconds, in October 2013, his life was changed completely. A work accident made him a paraplegic (paralysed from the waist down), confined to a wheelchair. However, help may be on the way. Vogt is one of the first patients to be given treatment with a new technology - a ‘robotic suit’ - in the spinal chord treatment centre of the co-operative clinic at Bergmannstrost. It’s a technology that looks like something out of a science fiction film. On a recent visit, we saw physiotherapist Michael Schleiff carefully put the robotic suit on the 45-year-old patient.
It is an unwieldy system of belts, supports, batteries, cables and computers, which the patient wore on his back. Along his legs there was a moveable joint contraption, which was bound to the ends of his feet. Specially-trained personnel can guide the motions of this robotic suit by remote control. The system is called ‘Exoskeleton’, and is a completely new terrain in the field of medical rehabilitation. “It hasn’t been around for very long,” said Frank-Rainer Abel, head of the Paraplegic Medical Society. Till now it has been used almost exclusively as a training system in clinics.
”The robot system is unfortunately not suited for every patient,” said Klaus Roehl, the chief physician of the spinal column centre. Those patients who are paralysed above the sixth vertebrae, and so are unable to move their arms or sit upright, cannot be treated with it. The experiments at the site are aimed at producing a study about the uses, potential and limits of applying the exoskeleton technology.
We could see the tension in Dietbert Vogt’s expression. His teeth were clenched, as his physiotherapist helped him out of the wheelchair and held him in an upright position. Vogt was using his arms to lean his entire body, along with the robotic suit, on a specially-constructed roller. His hands were grasping two handles. He slowly edged forward, millimetre-by-millimetre. Vogt’s physiotherapist was with him the entire way. After 20 minutes, Vogts was completely spent, but jubilant. “It is totally exhausting. But when you are otherwise confined to a wheelchair, there are no words to describe the feeling,” he said about his stroll. The broad-shouldered patient added that he couldn’t have managed any of this without the support of his family.
According to the Paraplegic Affairs Society, there are more than 100,000 paraplegics in Germany. The robotic suit technology comes from the United States and Japan. ”But in terms of the depth and breadth of testing, we are the leader worldwide,” said head physician Roehl. Dietbert Vogt had no illusions about his situation. “Of course the robotic suits cannot replace a wheelchair,” conceded spinal column expert Roehl. “But they are a large step forward in the rehabilitation of patients.” His colleague, Frank Roehrich, nodded in agreement. The neurosurgeon himself is paralysed from the waist down, after an accident 18 years ago. “The hope remains that the technology will one day be so advanced that one can maintain one’s balance without outside help, that one’s arms can move freely and that one can climb stairs,” said Roehl. Roehrich, who was also undergoing therapy sessions in an exoskeleton suit, said, ”It is an indescribably beautiful feeling, at least for one brief moment, to be able to stand up and look at the other person at eye level,” he said.
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