The Story Behind the Infinity WalkAbout^®

The Infinity WalkAbout came into existence because of a single event on May 20, 1999. Dr. Sunbeck’s brother, age 40, suffered a massive stroke. Excellent intensive inpatient therapy occupied his life for the next six weeks. Then outpatient therapy by talented professionals continued for quite some time.  At the end of three years, long after all services ended, his balance was unsure, his speech was slowed, and his attention was largely occupied with any single task. Though he had remained faithful to daily practice of a home exercise routine, diminishing returns on his effort was beginning to discourage him.

At this time, Dr. Sunbeck had already published her 1991 and 1996 editions of a book on her Infinity Walk method, which integrates the various functions of muscles, senses, speech, attention, and so on. She had developed this work for special education; but the mental leap from its use in education to its value in physical medicine was immediately obvious when she visited her brother on a vacation in 2001. She returned to New York and started the first prototype development. On March 11, 2002, her brother took his first walk around the original Infinity WalkAbout prototype. One month later his progress in balance, gait, and speaking while walking was “incredible”. This is the word that clinicians have used repeatedly when viewing video footage of his progress from Day 1 to Day 30.

Physical medicine professionals who are familiar with the type of excellent care that he had received during treatment, understand how far he had come; and how much more progress he gained through his month of daily use of the Infinity WalkAbout. His team of physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists had done all they could with the tools that they had to use and the time they had to work with him. The Infinity WalkAbout was a missing integrative and strengthening element of his daily therapeutic exercise routine.