KUBANG KERIAN, 14 April 2014 – A team of nine Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) staff from the USM Medical Rehabilitation Hospital Unit developed an exercise tool called “Lolimex” for less than RM200 using the equipment available around them, such as aluminium, wooden planks and rubber weights.

This exercise equipment can be used to strengthen the muscles of the lower limbs of patients such as the thighs, calves, knees, and joints.

Their innovation was judged the overall winner in the 10th Innovative and Creative Circle (ICC) Convention for Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTA) level held at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) last week.

They bagged the ICC Trophy and was crowned champion in the Technical category with a cash prize of RM6,000 and trophy.

They received the prize which was presented by the Secretary General of the Sarawak State Government, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani.

According to Evo Rehab team leader, Azlina Majid, 34, the project which started in January 2012 and completed in September 2012 was the result of group discussions between heads of departments and eliciting their observations on the needs of patients at the USM Hospital.

It was perceived that the use of existing exercise equipment to strengthen the lower limbs of patients are burdensome to the patients, especially in patients with arthritis, sports injuries, stroke, or those involving fractures because such equipment is costly, bulky, uncomfortable and difficult to operate by patients.

“The existing equipment are similar to the exercise machine ‘shuttle’ that was priced at RM20,000 and are difficult to use, for example by people in wheelchair, as compared to Lolimex which is more versatile and can be used by anyone. Moreover, it is highly portable with a weight of 9.3 kg,” said Azlina.

Lolimex exercise tool is also a multi-purpose equipment that allows patients to exercise in many positions: lying down, sitting in the equipment or while sitting on a chair. Patients can even exercise at home without having to shuttle to the hospital.

According to Azlina, this tool is also very suitable for public health application and even non-professionals are able to use it, besides Lolimex is user-friendly.

“This was a significant and meaningful recognition of the innovation efforts conducted at USM Hospital,” said Azlina. - Translation: Yong Check Yoon/Text: Mohamad Abdullah