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 UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Students are fundraising to support Capstone Projects!
Biomedical students nearing completion of their degree work are required to apply what they have learned in the classroom to a real world application called Capstone Projects. These projects are collaborative initiatives focused on making life easier or procedures more efficient through applied engineering. Easter Seals and the services we provide to people with disabilities offers a wide range of real world challenges to work on. Last year students designed and built a Warm Water Therapy Pool wheel chair which combined weight bearing, water submersion and frequency of use criteria. In use today, this specialized chair offers our pool clients easy, safe and durable transition into the pool from their personal wheel chairs. They also worked on a specialized pool ladder for Physical Therapy and a head mounted assistive technology device for communication.
Biomedical Engineering and Easter Seals are striving to support a long-term partnership to provide design opportunities to students that benefit Easter Seal's clients. This year students are engaged in several projects with an early June deadline. These include the design of a portable wheelchair ramp and physical therapy devices geared toward both children and adults. Read more about this project www.ucdavis.com. All funds donated will be designated for Capstone Projects, which assist Easter Seals consumers!
What's New in Aquatics
UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Project
The Easter Seals Warm Water Therapy Pool asked a team of three students (Jimmie Huynh, Nghia Tran and Hung Ngo) from the UC Davis Biomedical Engineering department class of 2010, to develop a stable, corrosion-resistant device that allows adults with disabilities to exercise. The device is wide and strong enough to support a 700 lb person in the water. The device allows the pool client to perform leg lifts, knee lifts, scissor movements, abdominal crunches and a cardio-respiratory work out, all the essentials for complete body conditioning. The hand grips and the back board ensures that the body is in optimal position for exercising. The device helps tone and strengthen the core abdominal muscles, the gluteals, quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors & abductors. The support of the water makes the work out less stressful.
The device consists of four parts: frame, clamping mechanism, wheels and foam backboard. Due to the high load requirement, the frame is made entirely out of stainless steel tubes and the dimensions (i.e. armrest width) were chosen to fit larger users. The device contains a novel feature that many other aquatic exercise devices in the market don’t have; that feature is a clamping mechanism. By incorporating a clamping mechanism to attach the device onto a pool-side ladder, it provides a means of both quick release and easy to snap-on, which is beneficial for the staff at the therapy pool. For portability, wheels have been attached onto the device to make the transportation of the device in and out of the pool possible. A foam backboard is attached for comfort when exercising.
The clients who are using this device (aquatic staff are calling it “The Ab Machine”) say their workout is shorter and more effective. Clients are having great fun creating new exercises with the new device.
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Pool Features
92 degree water temperature - Pool ramp for easy accessibility - Hand rails along sides of pool - Depth range of 3 to 5 feet - Shower and locker room facilities - A friendly, supportive atmosphere - Wheel chair access - Hoyer lift available |
Benefits of Aquatic Exercise
General relaxation - Reduced joint pain - Increased joint flexibility - Improved balance and coordination - Increased self esteem - Improved circulation - Improved muscle strength - Increased cardiovascular endurance
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