Personal victories achieved day by day. That’s how stroke survivors come back, sometimes an inch at a time.
An arm brace that uses his muscles’ own signals to help him reteach himself how to do things is the most recent tool that Thomas Gliha has employed. His physical therapist told him about the MyoPro, which was developed here in Northeast Ohio by Geauga Rehabilitation Engineering. It’s now being used by 18 area stroke survivors, including Gliha, to regain normal functioning.
Gliha, who lives in Concord Township, was just 51 when he had his stroke almost 12 years ago. And he’s made it his life’s goal ever since to fight his initial diagnosis.
“When I was first in rehab after my stroke, they told my family I would not walk or talk again,” Gliha recalls.
Today he does both, along with dozens of other things that allow him to take care of himself when his wife is at work. He built his handicap-accessible house near a fairway at Quail Hollow Golf Course to inspire him as he watches golfers. That helps fight the inevitable depression that settles over him when a goal seems at first to be out of reach. He once was an avid golfer, and regaining his golf swing is his current goal.
Read the full story here: http://www.news-herald.com/20130822/locally-developed-myopro-device-used-nationally-to-rehab-stroke-other-patients