Empowering Recovery: How Neurokinex Utilizes the Total Gym Power Tower for Life-Changing Neurorehabilitation

Neurokinex delivers community-based life-changing Activity Based Rehabilitation (ABR) programmes for adults and children living with paralysis.

Reframing recovery after spinal cord injury by accelerating functional gains and independence, its programmes are tailored to individuals’ needs whether they are newly injured or living with a long-established spinal cord injury.

Neurokinex clients use traditional gym equipment in adapted ways to achieve goal-based outcomes, build strength and restore function.

Total Gym Power Tower at Neurokinex

Neurokinex trainers use the Total Gym Power Tower with a wide range of clients with neurological impairment to increase their weightbearing ability and improve their global strength.

“As a provider of specialist activity-based rehabilitation for clients living with paralysis, we only work with trusted suppliers whose equipment meets our exceptionally high-quality standards. Ethics Leisure is a valuable partner who can be relied upon to supply machines that can be used safely and effectively. Particularly helpful in our rehabilitation programmes is the option with the Total Gym Power Tower to be adapted to suit each client’s individual needs, adjusted to provide progression in increments and clear measurement to chart their progress.” Harvey Sihota, CEO and founder of Neurokinex.

Comment from Gemma Everson, Neurokinex trainer

“Many of our clients have paralysis in their lower extremities so we most commonly use the Power Tower for lower body strengthening and weightbearing. The adaptability of the glide board’s gradient means we can easily change the difficulty of an exercise dependent on the client’s function. This also gives an objective measure of strength improvements. Our client, Justine, enjoys performing high repetitions of bilateral squats to build lower extremity strength and cardiovascular fitness. Another client, Dan, has recently been attempting hamstring curls to encourage the very exciting emerging function in his hamstrings. Other clients sit on the glide board to push weight through their legs and perform core tasks using this weightbearing to increase the challenge.

“In our activity-based neurorehabilitation sessions, a key principle of the training is task-specific, massed practise. This means repetitively performing tasks that mimic the action of a movement someone is trying to achieve. Therefore, if a client has a goal of standing from a seated position, performing repetitive squats on the Power Tower with an increasing gradient reinforces the extension pattern and builds strength to help achieve their standing goal.”

Dan Woodall, 33

“I was injured in an accident in 2016. My injury level is T11 which means I have paraplegia and have lost sensation and movement in my lower body and legs and have greatly reduced trunk strength. I also lost my bowel and bladder control but have recently managed to regain these.

“Despite the time that has elapsed since my injury, I continue to achieve gains with Neurokinex whose programming changes to adapt to my new functions and challenge me to achieve more.

“I use the Total Gym Power Tower often and usually for an hour at a time to perform squats, single leg squats and hamstring curls. Using the Power Tower has given me the ability to lock my legs out for a small period of time, drive my legs into a straight position when doing squats and release my knees from a locked position.”