Rehabilitation technology for physically handicapped persons, the Viennese High Tech Program

The application of "high-tech" instruments for physically handicapped people depends on: (1) the knowledge of the market, (2) the education of the rehabilitation team, (3) an individual adjustment of the devices to the special needs of the handicapped, (4) the maintenance and service of the devices, (5) the resources for financing, and (6) integration in a rehabilitation strategy. The activities of our group concern educational approaches for patient rehabilitation, and research, development and clinical application of new systems in functional electrostimulation (FES). A special rehabilitation strategy called "functional rehabilitation" was developed to support the application procedure.