E-rehab Market Growing Along With E-Bike Popularity
RVINE, Calif. (BRAIN) — Don DiCostanzo has heard the stories: The 14-year-old with bone cancer regenerated leg movement riding an e bike after having surgery. A woman who began e bike to recover from a heart transplant. Another battling a muscular disease now is able to maintain mobility with the help of an e bike.
The Pedego Electric Bikes CEO knows e bikes are beneficial for more than leisure and transportation. They also can be a rehabilitation tool for mobility and mental health. Research shows that outdoor motor-assisted, non-stationary exercise can help stroke, spinal cord injury survivors, Multiple Sclerosis patients, and people born with motor function disorders.
Bosch e Bike Systems also sees this added value. It published on its website an interview with physiotherapist Philipp Hausser, who noted among the benefits of e bike is that stress can be "regulated and adapted to suit the stamina and state of health of the rider. As a result, the e bike is perfect for patients who have just had a joint replacement — it's an ideal means of remaining active. In this way, they can step up the stress levels in a series of stages. For patients who are less fit, the power assistance enables them to make up for any physical deficit."
Paul Boland, a research support team member with the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom published a paper exploring factors that influence e bike usage by stroke survivors.
The study said e bikes have the potential to overcome some of the physical activity barriers that stroke survivors face and concluded that e bike use was a positive factor in enabling some of the participants in the case study to cycle outdoors.
Espin Electric Bikes published a blog post in February about how e-bikes can be used for sports rehabilitation. "In sports where endurance is an essential part of the game, e bikes can help players recover faster and get back on the field again. By using an e bike, an athlete could extend their endurance by about 20%, thus allowing them to perform better.’’
Social support, the belief that e bike was an enjoyable mode of physical activity that was good for their health were reported by the participants as important factors for using the e bike.