Quadriplegic for three decades, Senator Mara Gabrilli walks with an exoskeleton

Quadriplegic since she suffered a car accident in 1994, Senator Mara Gabrilli (PSDB-SP) drew attention this Friday (28th) by posting videos on social networks in which she appears walking with the help of an exoskeleton.

The equipment, named Atalante, works as a support so that people with some type of paralysis can stand upright and move in different directions with their arms free.

Mara experienced the technology in New York, in the United States, during a three-day mission. The structure and functionality of this exoskeleton were created by a French startup. The equipment works on a schedule that varies according to the patient’s need, such as bending over, sitting down, standing up or walking.

Now, Mara’s intention is to form a partnership to bring this exoskeleton project to Brazil. The “Walk Centers” idealized by her would be places that would function as physical conditioning or gymnastics centers for people with and without disabilities. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), more than seventeen million Brazilians over the age of two have some type of disability.

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A post shared by Mara Gabrilli (@maragabrilli)

In the country, there are already devices similar to the Atalante and show that technology is also moving here. In 2014, a parathlete kicked off the World Cup in Brazil using an exoskeleton developed by the team of Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis.

Another piece of equipment is the one that works in the Lucy Montoro rehabilitation network, which is also an exoskeleton, but with a different structure. In this case, it is the machine that does all the moving. In what the senator experienced in New York, the patient is able to walk on his own.

Linamara Battistela, who is a physician and coordinator of the Lucy Montoro Rehabilitation Network and professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (FMUSP), was with the senator in New York to learn about the impacts of this technology that has the capacity to revolutionize rehab treatment and improve patients’ quality of life.

“There, the functional electrical stimulation will generate movement in the lower limbs and will support the trunk. With this stimulus, which simulates a muscle contraction, the patient starts the movement and the robot continues. In the next step the same thing happens. This synchronism between the electrofunctional stimulus and the movement is what makes walking seem so smooth and so close to human movement”, comments Battistela.

Márcia is the mother of Alexandre, a doctor who suffered head trauma in a car accident at the age of 24. The family came from the interior of Rio Grande do Sul to be treated in São Paulo. With several cognitive sequelae, technology has been helping in the rehabilitation of young people.

“The hope is that Alexandre will walk again. Because he had no spinal cord injury. So, this training will help him and many other patients to walk again and lead a normal life”, quotes Márcia.