How to Prepare for a ReStore Demo Day at Your Clinic

We have scheduled a ReStore demonstration/clinic day at our facility. What can my clinical team do to prepare, and what should we tell our patients to expect?

While each demo day may be different depending on the needs and goals of your facility, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Patient Selection

Although many patients are appropriate for gait training in the ReStore Exo-Suit, careful patient selection can be very helpful to ensure that clinicians are able to focus on the impact of ReStore and see how it can be integrated into their therapy sessions with optimally selected patients first. A helpful guide for patient selection is coming soon to our Resource section, but some suggestions of ideal candidates for initial ReStore demonstrations would include the following characteristics:

Required Characteristics:

Presentation of hemiplegia/hemiparesis resulting from stroke
Height between 142 cm and 192 cm (4′ 8″ -6′ 3″)
Weight less than 120 kg (264 lbs.)
Ability to ambulate at least 1.5m (5ft) with or without assistance and/or support

Ideal Characteristics:

Significant foot/ankle impairment but minimal hip/knee/trunk impairment
Patients who are ambulatory, requiring no more than Min Assist (with any assistive device)
Good Passive ROM at paretic ankle
Minimal spasticity throughout paretic side
Full cognitive and expressive abilities
Motivated to try something new

These ideal characteristics suggestions are intended only to help facilitate early learning and training experiences with ReStore. As clinicians advance in their training and expertise, they will learn how to successfully apply the ReStore technology to the broader range of patients they encounter within their practice who could benefit from the targeted plantarflexion and dorsiflexion training with ReStore.

Patient Preparation

Patient demo sessions are typically scheduled during back-to-back sessions with a designated “lead” therapist throughout the afternoon, however your local ReWalk representative can easily work with your facility to address specific scheduling needs. It can often be helpful to prepare a scheduling/sign-up sheet in advance to identify which patients you are planning to use the ReStore with on your upcoming demo day.

Additionally, for any patients or clinicians who are planning to wear the ReStore during the demo day, we recommend the following suggestions for clothing and footwear to help facilitate easier setup and comfort:

Shorts or long pants that can be pulled above the knee, exposing skin of lower leg
Socks and Athletic shoes with non-integrated tongue and adequate volume in the forefoot to accommodate an insole. If the patient has shoes that are ½ to 1 size larger than they usually wear, these are recommended. High-top style shoes are not recommended with the ReStore Exo-Suit.

In-service Presentation

An in-service presentation can be a great way to introduce the ReStore technology to a broader range of clinicians who may be interested in learning more about the ReStore but will not be directly working with patients during the demo day.

In-service presentations are typically scheduled for 45 minutes to one hour but can be flexible to adapt to the needs of each facility. This can also be a great opportunity for one of the therapists to try wearing the ReStore Exo-Suit to get a better sense of how the dorsiflexion and plantarflexion assistance will benefit their patients.

For clinicians who are unable to attend the in-service at your facility, we have also created a ReStore Introduction Video to the ReStore technology as part of our Topics in NeuroRehabilitation web series.

ReStore Patient Demos and Clinical Support

During each patient demo, your ReWalk representative will work with the lead therapist to understand the current goals and gait deficits that he/she is working on with each patient to help tailor the ReStore session accordingly.

With support from ReWalk personnel, the lead therapist will help to fit the patient for a ReStore device, make adjustments to the assistance levels, and collect standardized gait data such as 10m walk tests and 6MWT distances using the various assistance modes (Slack, Assist, and Brace) available with the ReStore. Once the patient has been fitted appropriately and the assistance levels have been established, the therapist can begin to focus on the types of specific functional activities that they have been focusing on for each patient.

Suggested ReStore Demo Day Activities*

ReStore is designed to be used in a variety of scenarios such as the following, as determined appropriate for each individual patient:

On a treadmill
Over level ground
With adaptive equipment such as a cane or rolling walker
With an overhead bodyweight support system

The below table describes some of the activities which can be performed in each of the ReStore modes:*The above activities are examples of the capabilities of ReStore and are not intended as specific treatment recommendations for an individual patient.