Doc: Chalk one up for the human spirit

Story excerpt provided by Cincinnati Enquirer.

Written by Paul Daugherty.

There was a man living in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2003 who started a revolution.

We don’t know him or his whereabouts today, or even if he’s still alive. He was in his mid-50s then, a paraplegic. He worked out in a gym on the West Side. That’s where Ryan Eder saw him.

Eder was a UC student, studying industrial design in the DAAP program. He watched the man struggle with the exercise machines, to the extent that, for him, preparing to exercise seemed harder than the exercise itself. Pins and pulleys and the logistics of getting in and out of his wheelchair: All so cumbersome…

…A decade later, Eder has turned an idea into a company, Include Fitness, that builds an exercise machine anyone can use, from an elite athlete to a quadriplegic who can adjust the weight he lifts by using only his elbows. If all goes well, the machine could revolutionize the way those with physical disabilities exercise…

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Originally published June 10, 2016.