Ekso Training program

Course overview

The Ekso Bionics training consists of 40 hours broken into two training sections. The first is the initial training which constitutes a 4-hour remote zoom lesson and 16.5 hours of in-person training over 2 days where the course instructor is on site with the therapists. The second is the advanced training which constitutes a 3-hour remote zoom lesson and 16.5 hours of in-person training over 2 days where the course instructor is on site. The target population is physical therapists who have access to an Ekso Bionics exoskeleton. During the initial training portion of the course, therapists will learn which patients qualify to use and will benefit from therapeutic intervention using the Ekso, how to evaluate and assess each patient in order to set them up in the Ekso, how to manage the basic feature set of the Ekso and carry out effective and safe use of the device, and how to analyze gait in order to effectively progress the patient with their pregait activities and gait training. The second part of training, or advanced training, aims to build competency using the advanced features of the Ekso which include pregait and gait retraining tools. This includes mastery of gait assessment and use of progression software which allows the therapist to turn down or turn off support provided by the robot, forcing their patient to take ownership of their walking and carry over what they have learned. At completion of this course, participating therapists will have a full understanding of use of the Ekso device and how to utilize it with their patients. They will also have a broader understanding of gait training including how to teach and encourage appropriate mechanics during intense walking sessions.