Gait trainers and hands-free devices: allowing mobility and social interactions
- Audrey Parent
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
Walkers and gait trainers can be used in children with functional disabilities that affect their ability to stand or walk. Typically, gait trainers are designed to provide varying degrees of pelvic, trunk and head support. Their use aims to improve independent mobility and to increase the amount of time standing in an upright position, when possible.
The Importance of Mobility
Independent mobility is a key factor in a child’s development. It is easier to explore the surroundings and interact with others when children can move around freely. Therefore, improving functional mobility can have a profound impact on a child’s social development [1, 2] and overall development [3].
The value of an Upright Position
Parents have emphasized in various studies the importance they place on social and physical interactions while standing for their child [4, 5]. Standing upright using a gait trainer has physical and psychosocial benefits:
Physical health benefits, Standing using a gait trainer and participating in physical activities can help improving bowel function, bone health and physical fitness [4]. It allows to enhance gross motor abilities and walking abilities [6], and can help to improve arms, hand, head and trunk control, when possible [6, 7].
Eye-to-eye interactions and participation. Gait trainers allow for eye-to-eye interactions with other children and for an easier participation with family and friends [5, 6].
Social interaction. Parents reported that being in an upright position boosts children’s self-esteem, sense of equality and sense of confidence during social interactions, especially if they can move freely with a gait trainer [5, 6].
Independence. Children can move more freely with joy and independence, which facilitates an active participation in family and peer activities [5].
Hands-free gait trainer and Social abilities
Hands-free gait trainers allow children to explore their surroundings without relying on their upper limbs for support. By using more their arms to interact with the environment or with their friends and family, children can better participate in play and activities that would be difficult in sitting position or when holding a walker [5]. These devices promote inclusion and encourage a sense of belonging to a family or to a group [5].
The Levity: a hands-free design
The Levity allows to use hands and arms to explore the surroundings and to interact with family and friends. Partial body weight support is provided through a harness linked to a spring system and can help, when possible, to maintain an upright position with biomechanical loading on the lower limbs. The Levity offers an opportunity to explore and develop functional and social skills, when possible.
Please refer to your doctor, physical therapist or occupational therapist for more information specific to your child’s need, and do not hesitate to contact Ora Medical for more information regarding the Levity.
REFERENCES
Anderson DI, Campos JJ, Witherington DC, et al (2013) The role of locomotion in psychological development. Front Psychol 4:440. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00440
Whittingham K, Fahey M, Rawicki B, Boyd R (2010) The relationship between motor abilities and early social development in a preschool cohort of children with cerebral palsy. Research in Developmental Disabilities 31:1346–1351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2010.07.006
Rosenbaum P (2021) To enhance function, promote children’s development. Develop Med Child Neuro 63:628–628. https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.14838
Eisenberg S, Zuk L, Carmeli E, Katz-Leurer M (2009) Contribution of Stepping While Standing to Function and Secondary Conditions Among Children with Cerebral Palsy. Pediatric Physical Therapy 21:79. https://doi.org/10.1097/PEP.0b013e31818f57f2
McKeever P, Rossen BE, Scott H, et al (2013) The significance of uprightness: parents’ reflections on children’s responses to a hands-free walker for children. Disability & Society 28:380–392. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.714259
Paleg GS, Williams SA, Livingstone RW (2024) Supported Standing and Supported Stepping Devices for Children with Non-Ambulant Cerebral Palsy: An Interdependence and F-Words Focus. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 21:669. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21060669
Livingstone RW, Paleg GS (2023) Use of Overground Supported-Stepping Devices for Non-Ambulant Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Cerebral Palsy: A Scoping Review. Disabilities 3:165–195. https://doi.org/10.3390/disabilities3020012
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