Military Connection: Great SUPPORT for Vets: By Debbie Gregory

Many advances in technology and medicine achieved over the last decade have been utilized to improve the care and quality of life for wounded military Veterans. One of the newest innovations is literally helping wounded Veterans get back on their feet.

The device is called an Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeleton Orthosis (IDEO™).  While it looks like a carbon-fiber brace, in actuality, the IDEO does so much more. The IDEO is designed to support and protect lower extremity limb injuries.

IDEO returns considerable functionality to patients who have undergone ankle fusion procedures, and even enables many patients with nerve and muscle loss to forgo ankle fusion *or* tendon transfer. The IDEO device is modular throughout the rehabilitation period to adapt to a patient’s changes in strength and motion. Once the patient has progressed to an adequate level of recovery, the initial modular IDEO™ is replaced with a lighter, more dynamic definitive IDEOsystem.

Several wounded Veterans who were candidates for limb amputations are actually back to running again, thanks to the support of their customizable IDEO device. Using the IDEO, many of these wounded warriors even returned to active duty.

An Army Center for the Intrepid team created the IDEO to increase mobility and decrease pain for wounded service members with lower leg injuries. The design used technology that had previously been used for making prosthetic limbs for amputees.

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Military Connection: Great SUPPORT for Vets:   By Debbie Gregory