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MindMaze: Focus on the healing power of the brain

A man uses the MindPod game, I Am Dolphin, by MindMaze. Credit: MindMaze
A man uses the MindPod game, I Am Dolphin, by MindMaze. Credit: MindMaze

Stroke can be debilitating. Many survivors live with reduced mobility even after long, intensive therapy. Dr. John Krakauer is chief medical advisor at MindMaze, a digital neuro-therapeutics company that harnesses the brain’s natural ability to heal. He hopes to improve the odds for patients in rehabilitation:

“What we’re trying to do is to create something complimentary. Which is much more intense, much more high dose. And it is not focused on activities of daily living or pragmatic functioning. It’s focused on your actual core capacities in an attempt to rewire your nervous system.”

And we talk with occupational therapist Sandra Deluzio, who uses the gaming software with her patients … who mimic the fluid movement of dolphins as they play their way to recovery.

Note: Omar Ahmad and Promit Roy invented the concept of neuroanimation, and Deluzio works alongside Kelly Jordan, an Occupational Therapist and clinical specialist for KATA.

Links: MindMaze, JHU KATA project.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'