Five years after handing in their final report, a NAIT student project is helping injured Albertans regain function in their hands, arms and shoulders at the country's largest rehabilitation hospital.
The FEPSim is a rehabilitation device that allows patients to simulate daily activities such as turning a doorknob or using a screwdriver to strengthen muscles and improve flexibility. About 16 of the devices are being used at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and other facilities in Alberta for treating patients recovering from severe strokes, burns and muscle and bone injuries.
"We knew we had something special."
"I think we knew we had something special because we could actually see the need and it was tangible," says Brian Zizek, one of three former NAIT Bachelor of Technology students who took on the project as a capstone in 2016.
Zizek, now a graduate of the program (BTech '15), and teammates Michelle Berg (BTech '17, Personal Fitness Trainer '06) and John Gushie (BTech '16, Magnetic Resonance '10) were tasked with working with therapists at the Glenrose to develop a prototype of the FEPSim. What they didn't know at the beginning is how teaming up with another group of NAIT alumni would lead to the commercial product that is now poised to make a difference in hospitals around the world.
Solving a need for patient therapy
The FEPSim (which means flexion, extension, pronation and supination, in reference to the body movements it helps simulate) solved a long-standing need for patient rehabilitation exercises, says Michael Cimolini, Glenrose technology integration lead.
Therapy devices the Glenrose used before the FEPSim, including the original wooden tool made 30 years ago (right).The hospital had been using 30-year-old wooden devices made in-house for patient exercises. The MacGyvered tools were a problem for many reasons, including infection control because wood can't be sterilized, and a lack of controls to fine-tune the amount of resistance.
"We had no idea how much resistance was being applied to it because you're just sort of tightening down some wingnut," Cimolini explains. "And there was nothing commercially available to replace it."
"There was nothing commercially available to replace it."
Two previous capstone projects by University of Alberta mechanical engineering students resulted in product designs but not a workable solution. The NAIT team was asked to combine the best ideas of both and develop a prototype that met the Glenrose's needs.
Their backgrounds made them well suited to the job. Berg, the project manager who worked with the Glenrose to better understand their needs, had exercise and body mechanics experience through her personal trainer diploma. (What's more, the facility was near to her heart, as her son was once a patient for a year-and-a-half to improve motor function and speech.)
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