On behalf of the Swiss Paraplegic Centre (SPC) Nottwil, the Institute for Medical Engineering is building a therapy room where paraplegics can virtually walk again while sitting in a wheelchair. The "VirtualWalk" is intended to help reduce chronic neuropathic pain, which is a clinical challenge. A first prototype has been in use since August 2019. Four patients have been treated with it.
VirtualWalk, which was selected as a top project by the Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts in 2019, is to be further developed. Open questions are the technical further development of the device, the incorporation of new ideas, the establishment of a corresponding QMS, the completion of the technical documentation (TD), the design of a clinical study in favour of clinical evaluation (KlinEval) and many more.
