GyroStim Genesis Story:
What was the Inspiration?
Inspired by necessity, GyroStim’s original purpose for helping one little girl
has evolved into helping countless people from all walks of life
and from around the world.
Inspiration
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In 1997, Kevin and Rhonda Maher gave birth to a little girl, Mackenzie. Born three months premature, Mackenzie was diagnosed with severe spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy and given a dire prognosis of a life burdened with severe disabilities.
Refusing to accept this as an inevitable outcome, the Mahers were determined to do everything they could to improve the quality of life for their daughter. Soon, the Maher family became fully invested and immersed in an intensive at-home therapy program.
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At age 4-1/2, Mackenzie was struggling with so many physical challenges brought on by cerebral palsy; of particular concern was her inability to maintain balance. Mackenzie's therapists advised the Mahers that vestibular stimulation therapy in the form of chair spins, log rolls, and somersaults every day might help.
Mackenzie age 3, propped up for the photo.
Mackenzie age 6
Motivation
In theory, vestibular stimulation therapy made sense: to improve balance, you must engage in activities that stimulate and challenge it. Unfortunately, Mackenzie was not capable of performing any of the exercises on her own, so the Mahers had to improvise and provide the motion-induced stimulation for her. The family did their best, however, after several weeks of back-breaking therapy sessions involving tumbling and rolling Mackenzie around on the floor, the therapy had to be discontinued because it was just too difficult to accomplish.
Realizing they had to find a safer and more efficient way for providing Mackenzie with vestibular stimulation, Kevin and Rhonda searched extensively for therapy equipment, but soon discovered no such device existed.
Kevin, with 20 years of experience working with robotic systems, became determined to engineer a solution. He envisioned a rotational chair made of plywood, a child's car seat, and various items of hardware. In his garage on a summer afternoon in 2002, he constructed a small rotational chair that made it easy and safe to administer effective motion-induced vestibular stimulation to Mackenzie. Unknown to him at that time, he had just invented the GyroStim.
From the very first rotation, the new device was a success and Mackenzie loved it! In a short period of time, Mackenzie's balance began to improve. Even more surprisingly, Mackenzie began making unexpected gains in other areas such as gross and fine motor skills, trunk control, even her energy level, mood, and speech were improving at a faster rate. It became apparent that the motion-induced vestibular stimulation had triggered a cascade of additional gains well beyond the intended purpose of balance improvement.
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While Mackenzie's daily physical and cognitive therapies were certainly beneficial, the addition of the motion-induced stimulation seemed to be the catalyst, the missing piece of the puzzle, that enabled rapid gains in her balance and other abilities.
"Necessity is the mother of invention." ---Plato
Innovation
Inspired by Mackenzie's progress, Kevin continued improving the design of the rotating chair. After seeing the capabilities of the device for the first time, the therapists insisted he find a way to make it available for use in therapy clinics. Their affirmation was confirmation for Kevin that his life was about to go in a new direction. With that, he decided to take a leap of faith and move forward with the launch of a new company, and UltraThera Technologies, Inc. was born.
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​Soon after the company was formed in 2007, the United States Air Force Academy was introduced to the technology and purchased the first GyroStim in 2008. The second system was purchased by the Mayo Clinic Aerospace Medical Vestibular Research Laboratory, and many additional sales for clinical and research applications would soon follow.
GyroStim Today
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Since then, GyroStim technology and methodology have progressed along an evolutionary path driven by a passion to pursue advancements in clinical applications, human performance, and quality of life.
Today, GyroStim has FDA-clearance and is designated by the FDA as a Breakthrough Medical Device. Systems are located in the US and 8 other countries around the world in health clinics, sports training centers, research labs, military facilities, and universities.
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UltraThera headquarters is located at the foot of Pikes Peak in downtown Colorado Springs, CO, with research, development, and manufacturing located in Golden, CO.
Mackenzie Today
Mackenzie, the inspiration for GyroStim, has overcome many of the challenges associated with her original diagnosis and prognosis. In fact, she has completed her Master’s Degree in Psychological Science from the University of Denver and is pursuing her PhD in Applied Developmental Science at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, CO.
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She is tenacious, courageous, spirited, compassionate, and faithful to God. She is dedicated to pursuing a life of scientific research: passionate about applying her personal experiences of growing up and living with cerebral palsy to discovering new and improved interventions that will one day improve the quality of life for others with disabilities.
