Adjustable Patient Harness System
By Fiona Rives
Genius Hour
The adjustable patient harness system is a NASA spinoff used to treat patients recovering from traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, and hip or knee replacement.
This "walker" is called S.A.M. (Secure ambulation module) it supports the paitents body weight and has very comfy cushioning.
James Kerley, a Goddard space flight center researcher, developed cable-complaint mechanisms in the 1980s for use in sounding rocket assembly and robotics. Kerley later worked with Goddards Wayne Eklund and Allen Crane to incorporate the cable-complaint into the walker that supported the patient. Alleviating the weight on the legs was an important part in pain management. In June 2002, Kenneth Messier licensed NASA's cable-complaint technology and walker in order to commercialize the product for medical purposes. S.A.M also improves patients balance, coordination, and endurance. S.A.M contains several features to make it user friendly: The height and width adjustability accomodates patients weighing up to 500 pounds and ranging from 5 foot 6 inches to 6 foot 4 inches. Attachments for oxygen bottle, IV pole, as well as an additional upper-trunk harness to provide extra stability for patients with severe balance issues.
So after all of this research I realized that this walker can help my grandpa because he has bad balance issues and this walker could help him so that he can have better balance.
I hoped you liked my short presentation on the NASA adjustable patient harness system: S.A.M!