KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital has a machine that is making treatment for brain injury easier. It’s intensive therapy with lots of repetitive movements to train parts of the body to become mobile again.

The BIONIK InMotion machine provides robotic-assisted shoulder and elbow therapy for those battling neurological conditions or Injuries.

“So, it’s just like going to the gym. You’re doing, you know, three sets of 10 or whatever it might be at the gym. Whereas the machine, here, we can do two 300 [or] 400 repetitions within a 20-minute treatment,” said Eric Greeco, an occupational therapist who works with brain injury patients.

Renea Anderson is in rehabilitation after her third brain surgery.

“Coming to therapy. That’s the best thing you can do. If it’s available to you,” she said.

She has a non-cancerous tumor. It has been a long, tough road to regaining her mobility after her surgeries.

“I’ve never been to therapy before. So, my first one, I came out with no memory and hardly any mind, and hardly any ability to write. I had to learn, relearn everything after my first surgery. My second surgery went fine. It was a small one. And this third one has been a duper,” Anderson said.

The BIONIK InMotion ARM/HAND robotic device monitors the patient’s movements during therapy and gently guides their movements.

“They enjoy it. It’s good because they can actually see the results. It’ll show how much help they’re needing and how much help the robot has to help. And then over time, you know that the goal is to have where they’re doing 100% of the action themselves,” Greeco said.

Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital is one of the few, if not only practices with the InMotion machine in Knoxville. Opening in June of 2021, the hospital has rehab programs dedicated to neuro, stroke, brain injury and spinal cord injury and amputation.