ANDANTE MEDICAL DEVICES, INC.announced today the immediate availability of their SmartStep® App for iPhone and iPod touch. The SmartStep App is used in conjunction with iSmartStep® Basic, a Functional Feedback Therapy (FFT) device that will allow patients to continue at home the therapy they started at the rehabilitation hospital/clinic using the SmartStep® Clinic. SmartStep® is a revolutionary technology that helps “retrain the brain” in order to get rid of bad habits resulting from a neurological or orthopedic trauma, and quickly “re-learn” how to walk correctly again (stroke, Parkinson’s, MS, hip and knee replacement, sports injuries of the lower extremities, back pain, etc…). The iSmartStep® Basic, which is also now available to customers, uses the SmartStep® App, a wireless system that allows the SmartStep® control unit to communicate with iPhone and iPod touch.
The SmartStep® Clinic is a patented and FDA approved Functional Feedback Therapy (FFT) device with biofeedback that records and analyzes key functional ambulatory parameters in real time in order to propose to practitioners customized therapies for their patients. The patients then use the auditory and visual biofeedback of the SmartStep® Clinic to guide them during their therapy, thereby increasing outcomes and shortening recovery times.
Practitioners can now upload the customized therapy to the iSmartStep® Basicthat their patients may take anywhere, including home, to continue their therapy. The iSmartStep® Basic allows patients to monitor their therapy in real time with augmented feedback (visual, audio and now vibration), hear auditory cues to either increase or decrease weight bearing or feel vibration cues. Data is automatically stored for practitioners to check compliance or further analyze when the patient returns for a follow up visit. Andante plans to release shortly a SmartStep® Secure Server that will allow practitioners to monitor patients’ compliance at home directly from their clinic, and to eventually modify the therapy according to patients’ progress (“Tele-Rehab”).
Commenting on this new product launch, Reynald Bonmati, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Andante, stated, “The SmartStep® technology increases outcomes at the hospital and reduces rehabilitation costs by bringing patients back to a normal life faster. The application now makes this possible in the natural environment of your home: it is like having your personal physical therapist at home. The ability for practitioners to use Tele-Rehab to monitor patients’ compliance at home directly from their clinic will contribute to further reduce the cost of homecare. Andante is well positioned to make a significant contribution to cost savings in healthcare.”
Andante Medical Devices, Inc. markets, designs, manufactures, sells and services patented products to help restore and maintain lower limb mobility that is inherent to a better quality of life. Our Web address is www.AndanteMedical.com.
iSmartStep® Basic is compatible with the iPod touch (2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation), iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G.