Strength Press – a better leg strengthening device

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Jen Turner, a physiotherapist and innovator approached us with a prototype rehabilitation device for leg strengthening.

Her company JT Rehab provides high quality and affordable private physiotherapy assessment and treatment from its base in Sheffield.

The service focuses on falls prevention, strengthening for improving arthritic joint conditions and prevention of de-conditioning to maintain independence and improve activities of daily living.

A desire to improve patient outcomes drove Jen to initiate a better leg strengthening device than is currently available. The aim was for the machine to be more effective for strengthening patients lower limbs than current tools and would have had the effect of reducing the de-conditioning affect and strengthening those patients most at risk of losing their independence.

“Within 2 days of being admitted to hospital 65% of people (especially the elderly) will start to lose muscle strength. It is a major factor in patients not regaining their pre-admission level of independence and causing costly delays in people being discharged back home. Turner wanted to work harder to prevent this de-conditioning process from happening, so she invented the Strength Press (S-Press), a portable leg strengthening device. It was developed to enable patients to have a much better chance of maintaining their strength and functional abilities.”

Having had positive feedback from the initial prototype device, produced by working with the Design Council and with the Advanced Manufacturing and Research Centre in Sheffield, Jen approached RGi to further develop the product to include push resistance on the fly and to provide a robust product design that was easy to operate and which could be made in medium volumes.

“The devices look great and David was super helpful sorting out a few issues with them before I took them away with me. I’ve got a good understanding now of how they go together which is excellent and looking forward to getting the testing process underway… Thanks again, great job!” Jen Turner said.

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The result is Strength Press which is based around a large aluminium extrusion. The extruded chassis, also doubles as a runner for the upper and lower carriages controlling movement of the foot and the amount of force required to achieve the movement. Other features include a mechanism for controlling the resistance force during the forward and reverse stroke, the angle of the foot and ankle relative to the plane of movement, and a stroke counter display. RGi production engineered the design and ensured that the accessible surfaces are easy to clean and maintain.