This video was taken on the same day as my husband was practicing walking with the Bioness L300.
The Bioness L300 theoretically corrects his need for the AFO. However, if you watch all 2 minutes of the Bioness trial, you will see that his foot starts rolling on its own because his muscles get so fatigued within that small amount of time.
Al already has an Axiobionics arm sleeve, as well as a leg sleeve (also from Axiobionics) that does essentially the same thing as the Bioness L300. What I can't understand is that the Axiobionics sleeve isn't quite as powerful, for some reason, as the Bioness L300. And it is a bit more cumbersome since the Axio sleeve is connected to the control unit (which Al wears on a belt around his waist) by cords, whereas the Bioness is wireless.
Not sure what's going to happen next - will we keep trying to strengthen Al's leg with the Axiobionics sleeve, or will we pursue the Bioness? As you can imagine, electrostim equipment is not cheap, and it isn't covered by our insurance. Al's parents have been generous in covering all of his electrostim, but we don't want them to spend more than necessary.
Now that I have moved to a part-time position at school, I have more time to investigate these questions and to help come up with an answer to how we want therapy to continue.
Jen, this is where your PT needs to earn his/her money. They should be able to provide therapy for foot-rolling(eversion). When I walk barefoot my foot rolls so an AFO for me.
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Unfortunately, this is also where insurance dictates how much therapy he can receive. It's only April and he has already used 1/2 of his 60 allotted therapy units for the year, which have been primarily PT, but some speech/cognitive therapy as well. The next goal is for Al to return to work, so they are trying to reserve some OT coverage to help him adapt to his job. Stroke recovery might be easier if we didn't have to worry about the finances to cover everything!
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