This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

This is a follow-up to the comment by Lazarus.

When I went for my Bioness fitting last Friday, I mentioned to the clinician in responding to something she said, that the Bioness people "are not very helpful." She quickly responded, "Everyone says that. You would think they would be more customer-service oriented."

If I were picking a device based on the customer-friendliness of the two companies, I would be using a Walkaide rather than Bioness. The Walkaide was easy to test (in contrast to Bioness, no prescription is needed for a test) and the two people I dealt with on the Walkaide couldn't have been nicer or more responsive. Also, Hanger Prosthetics, which is where you can get the Walkaide, is everywhere, so that product is much more accessible. I am traveling two hours to Boston (as opposed to 15 minutes) to see my clinician for the Bioness device -- that's where I had to go to find someone really experienced.

In any event, despite all of the above, I have the Bioness device and am happy I do. In the end, what matters most is having the device that works best. So far, that's the Bioness, but I will let all of you know what I think after I try the Walkaid again in a few weeks.

George

There is a walkaide place just 10 minutes from my home. The fellow was so unpleasant I ended up traveling an hour to Vernon. Even so, the technician was inexperienced. I learned more from this site.
It reminds me of when I bought a Segway.....por responses from the company.
Linda in western MA

Wow that surprises the heck out of me!! I am going to put an email into some of my friends at Hanger and see if I can find someone else out there to fit it for you.

I am just going to tell my guy western Mass and see what we can find out. When I get the names I will post them up here for you.

Well and an exciting update from the mrhodes40 camp!! When last we vistied our heroine she was having trouble; the walkaide tester hand held testing device worked well but the cuff--not so much. Nary a bump or a twitch did we get. Urgh! Go back a page and read my "perils of pauline" story on this. I figured I was out of the walkaide business..........And I was really disappointed because I had been holding this in the back of my mind "It's expensive, but if I get really bad I can get one of thse things...".

Lo and behold the Hanger girl called me back today and had me come in: she had connected with her friends explained the trouble we had and asked advice. She got many emails with tips and tricks to do, the first choice being use a special new electrode pad about 1" square not the little circles; apparently they "get" difficult nerves and trigger them.

She put them on and bang, I was walking in a minute flat. So we start the insurance angle, very few companies are covering it she said so I am not expecting it. Medicare has approved it for spinal cord injuries not MS so it is not something we can expect that other insurance will do it, but sometimes they get lucky she said, so we will hope!

Yeah!

I am not going to even try the bioness, this one has the feature of being albe to walk barefoot, which I actually want. ANd I also want to add that my hanger people were super great too. My visits to trial this have been free--5 visits to date with all the difficulties and extra effort I am impressed by their support and comittment to make it work for me.

A beautiful thing, indeed!!!!

Hooray for mrhodes. An instructive note on the importance of proper placement of the electrodes for either device, I suspect. This is the reason I traveled two hours to see an experienced clinician in lieu of a 25-minute trip to see a Bioness-certified technician who I could tell over the phone was not very experienced. The clinician who did my fitting knew exactly what she was doing and now that I am using the device and getting used to it, it is comforting to know that the electrodes are located in exactly the right place. I will take another two-hour trip in two weeks, though, just to make sure everything is okay.

I don't agree with not trying both devices, though, unless walking barefoot is important to you, which you can't do with the Bioness.

I don't recall anyone writing about using these devices in an office environment so let me share early experiences. After one day of experimenting, I can see that this will be a challenge. The problem is that walking in an office involves large numbers of short trips over the course of the day. I am finding that for many of them, it simply doesn't make sense to turn the device on(it needs to be off, by the way, when I am standing still or sitting at my desk or it zaps me uncontrollably). This is not really a surprise, but it's a little disappointing because it means that for much of the walking I do during my normal day I may not be using the device. I'll report back.

Last note on my first workday with the device. At the end of the day, I went to one of my colleagues (all of them know I have my new "toy") and said, "Well, what do you think?" and then walked a bit. He said it's a huge improvement. An hour later, I saw my physical therapist (that's another story), who has been waiting to see me with the device and he and a colleague were amazed at the improvement in my gait after watching me walk with the device turned on and then turned off. He did a demo for me of the difference and noted that my gait is "almost normal" with the device! To me, my limp feels normal and my gait with the Bioness feels weird, so this positive feedback was very welcome.

I will be flying in a couple of weeks. Has anyone been through airport security with either device?

George

When i walked out of the Springfield, MA office in anger, I called NeuroScience (?)--the company that makes Walkaide.
It turned out lucky as the Boston person was travrling to Vernon CT the next day.

We met her there and she fitted me with the technician watching. Thank goodness she drew a template.

Two weeks later when I had my own which that young technician had set up, the device was twistng my foot. I went back and he tried all sorts of ineffective movement of the electrodes. I took out the template and insisted we cut out the circles she had drawn for electrode placement and we placed that on the cuff and repositioned the electrodes. Right away I could walk. he had placed them just slightly off the mark and I lost 3 weeks and almost lost hope.

Thy are selling a product that they do not have the trained staff to sell.

Hint: I did have a day when the jolt was way too much (not that the setting was high) and I took the wires out and rearranged them and all was fine.

Linda

I have a bioness L300 for Right leg for sale. Purchased 2/2010 used maybe 10 times. Excellent condition. Asking 3,000 with free shipping. If you are interested please let me know amandaboyd1981@gmail.com. Thanks