Device allows gunshot victim to walk again

MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) - Chris Reyes took more steps one day last week than he had in almost a year. But he had more practical concerns.

"I want to know, will I be able to use the bathroom with this?" Reyes asked, a plastic-and-metal brace supporting his legs and lower back.

Vikram Choudhary, a prosthetist and orthotist at Bionic Prosthetics & Orthotics, assured the 22-year-old that he would.

Reyes, who has been paralyzed from the waist down since January, was able to walk with the help of a device called a reciprocating gait orthosis. Choudhary said it has existed for years but is little used in northwestern Indiana.

He said the shine of the "latest and greatest" in new technology often blinds orthotists to what actually works for patients - and can usually be cheaper than electronic braces.

"If it works and it's simple, why complicate it?" Choudhary said. "Overkill is always bad."

On Jan. 14, during what he says was an attempted robbery, Reyes was shot once in the lower back. Ever since, physicians have told him he'll never walk on his own again. He refuses to believe it.

On Tuesday, with an assist from the orthotic device, the East Chicago man walked for longer than he has since winter. His next step is to get out of his wheelchair and start using elbow crutches.

"Turn around," Choudhary told Reyes as he held the parallel bars at the Munster office, his braces creaking.

"Turn around, really?" Reyes asked, his legs bony from a lack of muscle use.

"You can do it," Choudhary said.

Reyes did it - and later started walking backward.

"Wow, man, you're doing good," Choudhary said, noting the patient's gait was already getting better.

"Take longer steps this time, as long as you can. See, you forgot the legs are there."

Choudhary said that in Reyes' case, the underused device can help compensate for his lack of hip strength and function. It does so by keeping his torso straight, and extending one leg when the other flexes, like a seesaw.

"Nothing else may have helped him but this brace," Choudhary said.

Using the orthotic, Reyes will continue physical therapy to try to improve his mobility and become more independent. His ultimate goal remains the same.

"The doctors told me I wouldn't be able to walk again," said Reyes, who hopes to become a counselor for at-risk youth.

"I'm a strong-minded person. I have three kids. I have little ones looking up to me."

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Source: The (Munster) Times, http://bit.ly/1TdpyE5

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com