‘The Ocean Race’ in Genoa, Alice with exoskeleton racing in Genoa

2023-06-27 15:06:48

‘The Ocean Race’, the most extraordinary sailing regatta around the world, which turns 50, has arrived in Italy for the first time in Genoa. The protagonist of a unique charity event in the history of boating will be Alice Leccioli with her ‘Felicità’ exoskeleton, as the twenty-one year old from Ferrara who was born with spastic diparesis christened it when in 2019 an anonymous donor, following an awareness campaign , he gave her ‘Ekso’. It is a robotic rehabilitation exoskeleton for the walking of people with motor deficits in the lower limbs (complete and incomplete paraplegia and tetraplegia, hemiplegia, multiple sclerosis, stroke). A jewel of technology distributed in Italy by the Genoese Emac and son of the research of the Californian Ekso Bionics of Richmond.

At the Ocean Live Park set up in the Waterfront of Genoa, Alice thanks to her exoskeleton and accompanied by Paolo Moretti, director of the UOC of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Giannina Gaslini Institute, boarded a boat for the first time, that of the Team Genova, to launch a Gaslininsieme crowdfunding campaign for the purchase of a rehabilitation robot for the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department of Gaslini.

“It was wonderful. It’s like a mission for me, to give others the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of robotic rehabilitation and share the path of rebirth. Contribute to helping a healthcare facility buy for Gaslini’s young patients an exoskeleton that currently costs around 200,000 euros is my biggest challenge today”, said Alice.

“Most of the patients in our department – underlined Moretti – have severe motor disabilities that could benefit from the use of an exoskeleton. This is why we welcome this project with enthusiasm, as it would offer an innovative, versatile and efficient possibility to integrate programs rehabilitation of our department with global positive repercussions. Robotic rehabilitation also allows you to interact with the environment in a free and safe way, with a consequent impact also on the cognitive and emotional sphere”.