It's a Process

Some things just take a long time. The campaigning. The lawsuits. The voting. The lawsuits. The counting. The lawsuits. The re-counting. The lawsuits. The certifications. The lawsuits. It’s a process. And, after all, nobody said democracy was easy. In fact, had the 19th-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck had the foresight, he might well have said that democracy, like sausages, is best not seen in the making. Walking is the same way. It’s a process. You put your left foot in. You put your left foot out. You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about…. Oops. Wrong one. That’s the Hokey Pokey. It’s useful in a wedding, but not so much for getting about town. Unless, of course, you marry well — in which case the Hokey Pokey can be a prelude to …. Well, never mind. That’s best left to our co-host Mic and his cowboy poet stories. So let’s try again. Walking is a process, and not an easy one. Our friends at John’s Hopkins say it involves two of the brain’s three major regions: the cerebrum and the cerebellum. The former handles the planned muscle movements; the latter, the balance, coordination and muscle control. That’s a lot of grey matter for something that’s as simple as falling forward. All of which brings us to the today’s podcast. Ambulatory Innovations is a Massachusetts startup that’s all about helping patients learn to walk. They’ve come up with a patent-pending mat that simulates the feel of sand, cobblestones, and whatever else one might find underfoot — even sidewalk chewing gum or worse. (Yes, feel free to ask Mic about stepping on things worse than already-chewed gum). And, while the team of Failure - the Podcast couldn’t get the name of the mat quite right during the recording session, we are sure that Ambulatory Innovations co-founders, Dr. Michelle Mailloux and Dr. Katie Muise, will make their product a success in the marketplace.