First and only C-Mill machine in Nebraska provides engaging, unique rehab
Using games and virtual reality, a high-tech treadmill at CHI Midlands is helping patients further engage and enjoy their physical rehab.
It's called a C-Mill machine, and it's the only rehab device of its kind in Nebraska.
Seventy-two-year-old Robert George is using the machine to rehab from a previous injury — a fall in March left George with multiple compound fractures that severely limited his daily life.
"When I was home I couldn't even go into my kitchen to cook a meal. Someone had to be with me all the time for about five months," George said.
But thanks to an innovative rehab treadmill, his last day of treatment has arrived.
"I don't think I'd have been where I am now without this," he said.
The C-Mill machine uses games and virtual reality with body weight support to create engaging workouts.
"It's a really incredible tool to make many balance corrections and gate corrections in order to prevent falls," CHI Midlands physical therapist Laura Locklair said.
And while a patient can have fun getting their legs back under them, they're also staying mentally stimulated.
"Not only do they stand on the machine longer but they're laughing and smiling and competitive while they do it," Locklair said.
"Having patients make cognitive decisions in real-time."
After over six months of therapy, George went from wheelchair-dependent to no support needed on the C-Mill.
"He's made tremendous progress. He's also walking at over twice the speed from when he first came," Locklair said.
George said things in the kitchen have since changed for the better.
"I'm able to walk with the aid of a cane or a walker and I can cook my own meal now," George said.