RPC Ogonyok was awarded a special prize of the Council of the Federation of the Russian Federation within the framework of the Russian Innovation Forum 2019.

One of the leading Russian rehabilitation industry enterprises Ogonek Research and Production Centre was awarded a special prize of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Russian Innovation Forum 2019. The prize was awarded to one of the latest developments of Ogonek Research and Production Centre - a mobile system for verticalization and gait training of patients with motor disorders.

In February 2019, as part of the Russian Innovation Forum, the award ceremony for the winners of the All-Russian contest "Best Social Project of the Year 2018" took place. The competition is aimed at finding and identifying the best projects of social entrepreneurship entities that carry out socially oriented activities aimed at achieving socially useful goals, improving the living conditions of citizens or expanding their opportunities to independently provide their basic living needs, as well as providing employment, supporting disabled people, elderly citizens and people in difficult life situations.

The mobile system developed at the "Ogonyok" center is designed for patients with severe impairments of the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, who cannot move around independently, provided they perform step movements with any type of support. These are first of all children with disabilities due to infantile cerebral paralysis, spinal dysraphism (spina bifida), inflammatory diseases of central nervous system. The system is designed not only for children, but also for adults with disabilities due to stroke, craniocerebral and spinal cord injuries.

The system is a lightweight, mobile construction on four wheels, in which the user is placed and upright for non-ambulatory patients. A special mechanism is used to set the required degree of weightlessness so that the user can make independent stepping movements by leaning on the handle and thereby moving in and out of the room.

"A unique feature of the system is that a user, even with a very severe motor deficit, can become mobile, moving on their own, without the risk of falling or getting injured. Verticalization and movement are the main factors in restoring body functions for people confined to a wheelchair, for them such technology is a matter of significantly increasing the quality and duration of life. And for children, it is a very effective training aimed at developing active movements and improving the biomechanical parameters of walking," the company explained.

The development was appreciated not only by senators, but also by rehabilitation therapists in Russia and abroad. The first samples have already gone to Belgium, Poland, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

"Kazakhstan plans to buy this equipment in large quantities from next year for the rehabilitation of children with disabilities, including in the early help system, because this technology in combination with other therapies significantly reduces the recovery time of patients with a lack or violation of independent walking skills," said a company representative.

About the company

Ogonyok Scientific and Production Centre established in 1987 is currently one of the leading rehabilitation industry companies in Russia, combining within a microcluster a production base, a scientific-methodological centre, a rehabilitation centre, and a network of orthopaedic shops.

The list of the company's services includes: production of a wide range of orthopedic products; development of rehabilitation technologies, hardware and software and technical means for their implementation; and rehabilitation of patients with diseases of the nervous system and musculoskeletal system.

Moreover, throughout all the years of Ogonyok's existence scientific and practical work is carried out aimed at creating new samples of medical and rehabilitation equipment.

Products

Nowadays assortment of orthopedic products developed in the center and produced under "Ogonek" brand consists of nearly 100 items. These are straps, corsets, posture correctors, spinal insoles, complex orthopedic systems and devices. Most products are made of special material - supple fabric "Tricor" ®, developed in Scientific and Production Center "Ogonek" specifically for the production of orthoses.

In recent years, the company has developed a range of fundamentally new orthopedic devices for lower limbs and torso for disabled children suffering from cerebral palsy and spinal dysraphism from the age of the first year of life. The design of the apparatuses, despite their complexity, is light and comfortable for everyday use and practically does not limit the child's movements in sitting, standing and walking positions, which certainly expands the possibilities of rehabilitation treatment of patients with spastic paralysis, increases their rehabilitation potential and improves their quality of life.

For the same purpose, walkers with partial weightlessness function have been developed, which allow teaching walking to patients who are not mobile independently within a short period of time.