'Exoskeleton' Helps Veterans With Spinal Cord Injuries Walk Again

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Technology that was first dreamed up in a comic book has jumped off the page, and is helping Minnesota veterans walk again.

It is called an exoskeleton, and it is what gives Iron Man his superhero strength.

For the last several years, a similar device has been helping patients at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital, like Doug Eckhoff of Victoria, learn to walk again.

"My family supported me more than I ever thought they would," Eckhoff said. "I never thought in my whole life. They've always been there for me."

The support of family and friends lifted Eckhoff's spirits after a motorcycle accident in South Dakota last August, which left him with a spinal cord injury and unable to walk.

But it was a full-body wearable robot, and a team of therapists, that lifted him physically.

"If you have absolutely no strength in your legs, it will stand you and it will take each step for you," physical therapist Crystal Stein said. "And then as you start to get stronger, you can grade back what the exoskeleton does."

One exoskeleton has been helping Minneapolis VA patients recovering from spinal cord injuries for a while now. The hospital showed off a second exoskeleton on Wednesday, recently donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles and SoldierStrong. This new device will help patients recovering from the effects of a stroke.

For Eckhoff, the biggest surprise came after walking a few laps around the hospital using the exoskeleton, and then trying to walk again on his own.

"I took, like, 10 steps and [the therapist] could tell just by the way I walked --from the way I started till after the machine – it was just incredible. Everything was in line, everything was level, everything was moving smooth," he said. "I only went like 10 steps and then I started falling apart. But just to be able to know that I could do it again is just huge … you can't imagine what the feeling is."

Eckhoff's prognosis is still unclear, but today he can walk for up to 45 minutes. He says that, someday, he would love to get back on a motorcycle.