New technology at Bryan Health helps patients walk again

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Brian Carlson went from living an active life and teaching at a Wahoo pre-school, to being on a ventilator and paralyzed. A bout with COVID turned in to pneumonia, eventually landing him in the hospital and diagnosed with a muscle weakening disease, Guillain-Barre syndrome, GBS.

Enter the ‘Eksoskeleton’. It looks like something you’d expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster, a wearable robot in a sense.

There are only six of these in the entire country and three of them are in Nebraska. The Eksoskeleton is a computerized and motorized walking frame that helps those looking to recover from serious brain and spinal cord injuries to walk again.

“And I know the first time they put it on me I could walk about 10 steps and I was really tired. The machine did all the work for me,” Carlson said.

For the next few weeks, two to three times a week, Carlson worked with the machine to regain his strength at Bryan West Campus.

I would walk a little bit further each time and little bit more of my own muscle rather than the machine doing the work,” Carlson said.

Carlson also used a walker for his rehab, and combined with the Eksoskeleton, in about a month’s time, he was walking on his own.

“Eventually, I was walking laps around the center and the hallways,”

Earlier Tuesday at the hospital where Carlson was a year ago, he got to see the robotic suit that gave him a new lease on life unveiled to the public, with a recently discharged stroke patient as the example.

So far, the Eksoskeleton has helped more than 40 people get back on their feet. And for those patients who may be apprehensive of the new technology, Carlson says to just keep going.

“I would say just try it. And then if you don’t want to try it again, just try it again,” Carlson said.

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