Aina Wifalk (21 March 1928 – 16 June 1983) was a Swedish social scientist and inventor of the modern

walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

Life and work

Wifalk was born in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 21 March 1928. In 1949, during her apprenticeship as a nurse, she fell ill with

poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

at the age of 21. The illness forced Wifalk to end her apprenticeship. From then on she campaigned for people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

. In 1952 she founded a club for physically disabled people in her hometown Lund, in 1958 an association for patients with multiple sclerosis in the Västmanland region and in 1968 the National Association for Accident Victims in Västerås. After her aborted education, she studied social sciences. From 1957 on, she worked as a consultant in the orthopedic clinic in Västerås. At the end of the 1960s, she also advised the city of Västerås on the interests of disabled people. Aina Wifalk died on 16 June 1983 at the age of 55 in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

Inventions

Wifalk developed two aids for people with physical impairments: the manuped and the walker. She did not patent her inventions because she wanted to make them available to as many disabled people as possible. She received only royalties from the sale of her developments, which she

bequeathed A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term ''bequest'' was used for personal property given by will and ''deviser'' for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the ...

in the name of the Nordic Church Association on the Spanish

Costa del Sol The Costa del Sol (literally "Coast of the Sun" or "Sun Coast") is a region in the south of Spain in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of Málaga and the easte ...

, which she had visited several times in her life.

Manuped

Wifalk presented her first invention to the public in 1965. The "manuped" is a training device for people with physical impairments. With a manuped, affected people can train their arms and legs as well as their coordination with each other. On the basis of the manuped, various training devices for physically disabled people were developed in the following decades, which continue to be used today in health services as well as in special sport schools.

Walker

In the 1970s, Wifalk's ability to walk became progressively more restricted by her poliomyelitis. Since the four-legged walkers available at that time did not meet the requirements for a comfortable walking aid, she began working on an improved design. She made the original frame more stable, added larger wheels and brakes, and a storage or seating surface. She also optimized the device for use both inside and outside of buildings. In 1978, Wifalk presented the first draft of a walking frame. With the help of a state development fund, she found a Swedish company to produce a prototype, and shortly after, mass production of the walking frame began. The walker became established worldwide in the following decades. In Germany alone, by the middle of 2016, it is estimated that as many as three million people use walking frames on a regular basis.

References

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