FORMER EastEnders actress Michelle Ryan may be US TV's new Bionic Woman, but Coventry stroke survivor Tracy Ikeringill really does have a "bionic" arm.
The revolutionary £560 hand therapy unit was invented by American occupational therapists - and half-brothers - Henry Hoffman and John Farrell.
It allows stroke and head-injury patients to practise rehabilitation physiotherapy exercises at home.
Tracy, a 41-year-old IT support worker at Axa Insurance in Coventry city centre, had a stroke six years ago when she was 35, which left her completely paralysed down the left hand side of her body.
She said: "I was at work one day and I fell off my chair, then realised that I couldn't get back up. It took 10 days to sink in that I'd had a stroke. Originally I thought I could move my hand - but when I looked it wasn't moving.
"My Nan had a stroke but she was in her 60s. It turns out that I have a hereditary blood condition that makes me more prone to clotting.
"I was in hospital at Walsgrave for five weeks, then went to a stroke rehabilitation centre in Leamington for eight weeks.
"I can walk again now but I still cannot move my ankle.
"Work have been really good and helped me to come back gradually. I started back half a day a week and now work three days. I used to be a touch typist and can type quite fast now with one hand."
Tracy wears the bionic arm for 45 minutes a day while she is practising her physiotherapy exercises.
She can close her fingers but not open them, which is where the bionic arm comes in.
"It has built-in springs which help my fingers to open. I have seen more movement in my arm as a result. You can't get physio on the NHS a year after your stroke."
Tracy, who is married to IT land manager Clark, also aged 41, first heard about the Saebo hand-therapy unit at Coventry's Different Strokes support group for young stroke survivors.
Oxford Mail/Banbury Cake
Stroke patients helped by 'glove'
By Fran Bardsley
A NEW piece of equipment, which helps stroke patients regain use of their hands, has been introduced at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.
Six spring-loaded Saeboflex 'gloves' have been purchased for the Headington-based centre's neuro-rehabilitation gymnasium, and staff have been trained to teach patients how to use the specialist equipment.
Training and assessment for out-patients will be on offer and patients who would benefit from the technology and are staying in the 16 in-patient beds will also be able to use the device.
Brian Green, 63, of Headington, had a stroke last year, spending weeks in hospital as a result.
He bought one of the Saeboflex gloves, which cost £557 each, two months ago and is already reaping the benefits.
He said: "Before I used it, I couldn't pick anything up or let go of anything and since I have been using it, I am able to pick up balls with my free hand after a session with it, do lots of things like open doors and the fridge and take the tops of jars.
"It's certainly made me a little bit more independent."
They told me at one point the hand and arm would take a long time to recover, but since using this it has come on in leaps and bounds."
The tool has proved highly effective, even for patients who were advised their chances for improvement were virtually non-existent.
In one case, in the United States where the 'glove' was developed, a patient was able to type, get dressed, and even begin to learn to play the guitar after a six-month period of treatment.
Senior NOC physiotherapist Jo Pierce said: "We're very excited about introducing this new way of treating patients.
"It's a relatively new rehabilitative tool that, as yet, is not widely used in this country - and not at all within the NHS or other specialist neurological rehabilitation treatment centres."
Occupational therapist Alison Bragg added that the equipment was of major importance to the treatment of patients.
She said: "It's very exciting, and we feel honoured that we are the first NHS unit to have the opportunity to use it with our patients."
Quotes
'They told me at one point the hand and arm would take a long time to recover, but since using this it has come on in leaps and bounds'