Sitting on Hope by Jenny Rueb

When the infant son of Dr. Horst Schaaf and his wife was born in 1988 they were told that their beautiful baby boy had Cerebral Palsy. He would be blind, live in a wheel chair, and his body would become more and more deformed.  All the hopes and dreams that every parent has for their child were denied to them as the doctor spoke the words of a hopeless future for their son, Mattias.

As Horst tried to listen to the doctor, his voice became a distant noise as he realized there would never be the excited moment of Mattias taking his first steps. There would be no sitting in the stands cheering their son as he played soccer on a sunny Saturday morning.  As a physicist, Horst’s mind was a trained instrument of assimilating facts. How could this be happening?  But at that moment in the doctor’s office, Horst wasn’t a Doctor of Physics, he was a father.

As Horst tried to listen to the doctor, his voice became a distant noise as he realized there would never be the excited moment of Mattias taking his first steps. There would be no sitting in the stands cheering their son as he played soccer on a sunny Saturday morning.  As a physicist, Horst’s mind was a trained instrument of assimilating facts. How could this be happening?  But at that moment in the doctor’s office, Horst wasn’t a Doctor of Physics, he was a father.

Instead of coaching the sports team or playing ball with his son, Horst  “coached” Mattias through  daily grueling physical therapy sessions.  Their mutual enemy the  progressively curving and distorting  of his spine that brought them closer  and closer to  spinal fusion surgery.  They were told it was the only way to prevent  the collapse of his torso  and eventual damage to his internal organs.  They were working against time. Now they  not only had Cerebral Palsy  to deal with, Mattias was developing neuromuscular scoliosis. Two names that meant only  pain and suffering for his son. Was there a different answer out there that he had failed to see?

Horst had always thought outside the box, asked the “what if?” questions.  Mattias had already suffered through many surgeries and the resulting setbacks.  Horst began to reason that perhaps there was a way to teach Mattias the skills to balance himself and strengthen the core muscles to support his spine.  The “what if” now became Horst’s personal crusade.

Horst applied the technique of “patterning” or neurodevelopmental “mapping of the brain” and behavior management, simply put, motor patterning for brain stimulation. *“The children are given therapies involving isometric muscle patterning techniques that allow earlier developmental patterns which they may have missed to be integrated.  Through this neuromuscular reeducation, they are able to retrace and fill in some of the missed pathways, allowing them to learn new behaviors.”

There were many unsuccessful experiments.  But his “Ah Ha” moment came during an equestrian therapy session.  Horst noticed Mattias attempted to sit straight on his own while on horseback.  Mattias wasn’t even aware that his body was working for him and not against him! The subtle rocking motion of the horse caused his brain to activate the dormant muscles in his core and back, encouraging him to sit up straight.  Unfortunately the effect lasted only as long as he was on the horse.

Again, the “what if?” dominated Horst thoughts.  What if the sensory stimulation of being on horseback could be reproduced in an everyday setting?  What if while Mattias was sitting in his wheelchair he could experience the same therapeutic action?  The answer seemed so simple.

He set out to develop a seating environment that would simulate the conditions of horseback riding a sort of “horse therapy” device.  Dozens of seating devices were tested and the right therapy gradually began to take shape.  During the research and development process, Horst was introduced to pediatric physical therapist Nancy Hylton, a world renowned expert in therapy for sensory input disorders.  She shared her enthusiasm with Dr. Stephen Glass, a recognized expert at sensory input deficiencies and sensory motor integration and they provided the additional scientific guidance.  Mattias began to show  steady and remarkable improvement just by sitting in a chair with a gimbal system.  A gimbal is what supports the compass on a ship or plane. Just as the compass stays level no matter what the movement of the ship or plane, so the torso or core receives a message from the brain to stay “level” or straight as the seat of the chair is on a pivoting balancing system or gimbal.

Currently Mattias does not need the spinal fusion surgery.  He is able to walk with the help of a walker. Since 2003, Mattias’ spine curvation has been reduced and continues to improve. He holds his sitting balance and is able to sit up straight without assistance.

From this miraculous experiment, CoreWerks was created. If this chair could help Horst’s son, could it help people with ADHD, ADD, Autism as well?  The “ what if” once again appeared.  Through his relationship with Ms. Hylton and others his early products were distributed to users ranging from the special-needs community to back pain sufferers.  As the positive feedback began coming in Horst was supplying chairs and chair inserts not only directly to patients, but to physicians and therapists.

Horst has devoted his life and limited resources to develop a seating system that could dramatically improve the quality of life for people with disabilities as well as alleviate lower back pain. There are many that are in need of Horst’s CoreWerks chair but unaware of its existence. His desire for the CoreWerks chair to be used in offices for employee’s who sit at computer stations all day and suffer back pain as well as for the range of health conditions from ADHD, autism, ADD and Cerebral Palsy.  So many families and patients could be “Sitting on Hope”!!!  WHAT IF?…