The ADELI Suit is derived from
a suit originally designed for the
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissol ...
in the late 1960s
that was first tested in 1971.
The purpose then was to give the
cosmonauts
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
in
space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...
a way to counter the effects of long-term
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
on the body. The ADELI Suit is currently used to treat children with physical disabilities resulting from
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be p ...
, other
neurological
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
conditions originating from brain damage or
spinal cord injury
A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal co ...
.
Historical Background – Space Race
The
Cold War and the
Space Race
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the ...
between United States and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
was taken to another level in the 1960s and 1970s – succeeding over one another in space travelling. Several efforts to bring a life form – before sending a human to space - were undertaken by both, particularly with some dogs by the Soviets and chimps by the US (dogs
Laika
Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacec ...
in November 1957 and then
Belka and Strelka
Belka (Белка, literally, " squirrel", or alternatively "Whitey") and Strelka (Стрелка, "little arrow") spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. They are the first h ...
on Russian Sputnik 5 in August 1960 and the chimpanzees
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term "ham ...
or
Enos in January and November 1961, respectively, on US
Mercury capsules. The Soviets were generally ahead of the US until the late 1960s (first satellite, first animal in space, first lunar flyby, first human object to reach lunar surface, first pictures of the far side of the moon, first human in space, first woman in space), having a gigantic military complex and investing enormous amounts in R&D of space traveling.
The first manned space trips counted only for hours, maybe days. Large problem the industry was facing, was that no matter how well prepared physically the cosmonauts (USSR) and the astronauts (USA) for the trip, even a short stay in space had a massive negative influence on their health. The conditions of
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
(antigravity) and
hypokinesia
Hypokinesia is one of the classifications of movement disorders, and refers to decreased bodily movement. Hypokinesia is characterized by a partial or complete loss of muscle movement due to a disruption in the basal ganglia. Hypokinesia is a sy ...
(lack of movement) caused immediate retardation of the whole body and motor system of the space traveler – muscles, bones, peripheral and
Central Nervous System
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...
s degenerated within several hours to a large extent. Upon return to Earth, the astronauts had to readjust to Earth's gravity and experienced problems standing up, stabilizing their gaze, walking and turning. These disturbances are more profound as the length of microgravity exposure increases. These
symptoms
Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showi ...
are very similar to those experienced by people with a mechanic damage of the brain and motor system. Often, astronauts needed a long-term intensive rehabilitation to get back in shape. The Soviets, however, did find a solution for cosmonauts to stay fit for months in space, contrary to the US, which had to return their astronauts after just a couple of days.
Invention of the Suit
The breakthrough in manned space traveling was a special elastic suit, invented by the Russian Center for Aeronautical and Space Medicine in the late 1960s.
The Soviet space scientists designed and developed a fully functional prototype of the dynamic correction clothing - called the "
Penguin Suit". By wearing this "Penguin Suit", it provided deep compression force on the skin, muscle, and bone even in
weightlessness
Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G.
Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational fie ...
. Thus the
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s would not suffer from the effects of extended staying in a gravity-free environment. Also the scientists and the rehabilitation medicine team developed a set of intensive training program to restore and build up the astronauts' physical and
sensor-motor function. The construction of the Suit was rather simple – shoes, knee-pads, shorts and shoulder-pads, all connected between each other with elastic elements. The location of the elastic bands is similar to the position of antagonistic muscle pairs. Two main functions were achieved – an axial load of up to 40 kg and resistance for every movement made. In total, the device has quite well imitated the Earth gravitation force, not allowing the brain and body of the cosmonaut to degenerate in space. Before the Russian suit was copied by the Americans, the USSR had an advantage of its cosmonauts staying in space for months and returning to Earth in a better condition than the US astronauts.
Space Suit in Medicine
For many years, the Penguin suit was used successfully with
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
s to help them prevent
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...
. As Russia became more open, the technology for this early "therapy suit" was shared with those who work in
rehabilitation. Reasoning that the effects of weightlessness were very similar to the physical problems seen in motor disorder patients, they decided to modify the suits for use with patients with cerebral palsy. At the Pediatric Institute of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, a team developed the first therapeutic suit in the early 1990s. Two major co-inventors of the suit - Professor Inessa Kozlovskaya and Professor Xenia Semenova - have decided to transfer the advantages of their device to treatment of patients with severe
neurologic conditions, especially children. In 1994, the "loading and training device" was patented all over the world through World Intellectual Property Organization with its application in medicine – mainly in rehabilitation of cerebral palsy and similar neurologic conditions.
The discovery behind was the so-called "Functional Antigravitation System" – a special "software", integrated into the
Central nervous system
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...
. This program/software allows a healthy human to easily cope with Earth gravity in every movement he makes – sitting, standing up, walking, using arms and so on. In case of brain-injured people, their life in a wheel chair or even in bed, this software is damaged or not developed in the first place. Professors Kozlovskaya and Semenova, after some month of research, modifications and ultimately – with a successful application – came up with "therapeutic suit" LK ADELI-92. The name ADELI / АДЕЛИ is a tribute to the prototype – the Penguin suit – as it originates from a penguin kind called the
Adélie penguin
The Adélie penguin (''Pygoscelis adeliae'') is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor peng ...
.
After more fundamental studies by Professor Semenova and development of special application methods described on over thousand pages manual, the suit was acknowledged by conventional medicine and has found immediate wide-range application in Russia, within the state rehabilitation and re-integration programme for
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be p ...
children. The programme was called "Disabled Children" and introduced by
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
.
Construction
The suit is designed to create a normal framework of forces on the body, stabilizing the torso to allow more fluent and coordinated movement for all the limbs. The suit uses a system of elastic bands and pulleys that create artificial forces against which the body can work, to prevent
muscular atrophy
Muscle atrophy is the loss of skeletal muscle mass. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Muscle atrophy leads to muscle weaknes ...
and reduce
osteoporosis. It consists of a vest, shorts, knee pads, shoes and sometimes a head piece, all connected in a prescribed pattern with
bungees of appropriate tension. The theory behind the ADELI Suit is that through active movement
therapy
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many differe ...
the brain is stimulated and thus retrained to recognize, and eventually initiate, correct movement of the muscles.
Claimed benefits
The ADELI Medical Center states that the effect of the suit is that the established pathological
synaptic pathways are rewritten with the new normal
reflex
In biology, a reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary, unplanned sequence or action and nearly instantaneous response to a stimulus.
Reflexes are found with varying levels of complexity in organisms with a nervous system. A reflex occurs ...
pathways, which exercises
therapeutic
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many differe ...
effects on the structures of the
Central Nervous System
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...
responsible for motor activity.
Claimed benefits include external stabilization, restoration of muscle tone, re-alignment of the body towards the normal, normalization of gait, provision of tactile stimulation, improved balance, support of weakened muscles, strengthening of functional muscles, relaxation of contracted muscles, and improvement of coordination.
Suit therapy has been proposed as a treatment for
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be p ...
, however, the suit manufacturers also recommend the treatment for other
neuromuscular disorders
A neuromuscular disease is any disease affecting the peripheral nervous system (PNS), the neuromuscular junction, or skeletal muscle, all of which are components of the motor unit. Damage to any of these structures can cause muscle atrophy and we ...
, including developmental delays,
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...
, post-stroke,
ataxia
Ataxia is a neurological sign consisting of lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements that can include gait abnormality, speech changes, and abnormalities in eye movements. Ataxia is a clinical manifestation indicating dysfunction of t ...
,
athetosis
Athetosis is a symptom characterized by slow, involuntary, convoluted, writhing movements of the fingers, hands, toes, and feet and in some cases, arms, legs, neck and tongue. Movements typical of athetosis are sometimes called ''athetoid'' moveme ...
,
spasticity
Spasticity () is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles ...
and
hypotonia
Hypotonia is a state of low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to stretch in a muscle), often involving reduced muscle strength. Hypotonia is not a specific medical disorder, but a potential manifestation of many different diseases ...
. The suit is, however, contraindicated in patients with hip subluxation greater than 50% or severe scoliosis and used with precautions in patients with heart conditions uncontrolled seizure activities, hip subluxation, hydrocephalus, diabetes, kidney problems and hypertension.
Long-term effects
Rehabilitative gains in motor control through treatment with the ADELI Suit are typically retained after the intensive course is completed. Research on groups of children with the ADELI Suit therapy has shown long-term retention of skills once their therapy program ceased. However, further research is still needed into all the long-term effects.
References
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