After suffering a stroke in 2011, Barbara Phelps wondered if she’d ever dance again. The stroke left her with a limited range of motion on the right side, so much so that she had to learn to write with her left hand.
Today, she walks with a limp and is slowly regaining the use of her right arm with the help of advanced technology that only recently became available to stroke survivors.
Phelps, 73, of East Liverpool, is one of 18 residents of northeast Ohio who wear the MyoPro arm brace developed by Geauga Rehabilitation Engineering (GRE) Orthotics and Prosthetics, of Chardon, Ohio.
Through daily exercises with the MyoPro brace, Phelps said she is experiencing greater range of motion, control and strength in her right arm. “It makes you stronger as far as when you move your arm, you can move it more and more,” she said. “I’m quite pleased with it.”
Phelps learned about the MyoPro from her dance instructor’s wife, who read about it on the Internet. She researched the device and began using it in physical therapy about nine months ago, she said.
Despite slow progress, Phelps has tried to maintain a positive attitude since her stroke on June 14, 2011. “Everything works fine,” she said. “My brain is fine. I can’t always say what I want to say. As far as thinking, I have no problem. … My right hand does not always open the way I’d like it to, so I use my other hand. Actually, I’m very well off.”
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