TORONTO - Janet Raymond leans forward, her upper body supported by a vest-like harness suspended from the ceiling. She's waiting for the apparatus to deliver the jolt she knows is coming, its goal is to test how steady she is on her feet.
There's an abrupt release of tension on the harness and Raymond lurches forward, her face betraying a touch of uneasiness, despite having gone through this manoeuvre many times before.
But she's kept her footing and hasn't fallen and that means she's making progress.
About eight months ago, Raymond was about to board a Toronto streetcar after a night out with friends, when her legs suddenly felt too weak to mount the vehicle's stairs.
It turned out she had suffered a mild stroke, which affected her right leg and part of her hand. After a stay in hospital, Raymond was transferred to the stroke unit at Toronto Rehab, where therapists took over her recovery.
"When I first arrived, I couldn't walk at all," says Raymond, 62. "I was in a wheelchair. I was quite upset and I wondered what was going to happen, if I'd be in a wheelchair all my life."
Her goal was to walk again, to go back to work as a delivery driver and to return to everyday activities with her husband.
That's when staff at the Balance, Falls and Mobility clinic at Toronto Rehab kicked into high gear.
The recently created program is designed to assess patients' balance and walking ability using state-of-the-art computerized technology.
"We have developed a clinic where individuals come from the stroke unit or from our brain injury in-patient unit and they get a very sophisticated assessment based on some of the research that we're doing," says Dr. Mark Bayley, medical director of the brain and spinal rehab program.
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Clinic helps stroke patients recover balance, avoid future falls