 Thank you all. Good evening. It's a pleasure to present our research today. So as Frank mentioned, over the last four years, we've been conducting several clinical trials looking at the impact of vibration therapy on the muscle and bones of those with muscle skeletal disability. And today I'll be showing briefly the results of our first study in which we look at a group of adolescents with cerebral palsy. So for those who are unaware, cerebral palsy is the most common disability in childhood. And we can define it as a disorder of movement and posture due to a static lesion of the developing brain that can happen before, during, or shortly after birth. So it's an insult or injury on the brain that does not change over time. However, the health outcomes, consequence of it, they do change and they tend to become worse over the years. So the health impact varies and it depends from individual to individual, but it's commonly seen that affects muscle tone, muscle control, and coordination on those kids. And this leads to muscle tightness or spas over the life in voluntary movements and also disturbance on their gait and mobility. And that leads to reduction on their muscle mass and also decrease on their muscle strength, which can lead to abnormalities on their bone structure. Therefore, they have an increased risk for bone fractures. And it's not only that, they also undergo several surgical procedures over their life. They have buttocks therapy, they have tender lengthening, they have bone lengthening, and they all require casting. And if anyone in the audience ever broke a bone, you know that once you cast it and you remove the cast after a period of time, your muscle is quite small in that area, so you have a reduction on your muscle mass. So these children, they are in a cycle of events that doesn't actually optimize the health of their muscle and bones over their life. And unfortunately, there is very limited evidence for effective non-invasive treatments or interventions to help them to improve their bone mass. Therefore, we're trying to see if vibration therapy can assist with that in helping their muscle and their bones and those with cerebral palsy and musculoskeletal disability. So while we're using vibration therapy, well, it's very easy to use. It's non-invasive and it has a relatively low cost. The equipment we use costs around 6,000 New Zealand dollars, so it's very expensive for one individual. When you have several of them using it over time, it actually becomes a little bit more cost-benefit. And several research over the last 10 years have showed that actually vibration therapy can improve bone mass, can improve muscle mass, and also muscle strength in a diverse range of populations. However, very few studies actually have a look at those with cerebral palsy. And most of these studies, they are very small or they actually have very difficult methodology or the interpretation of the results as well make it very hard to understand what was defined in the day of the day. So how does it work with this machine? Well, you stand on it. It is a site-alternating plate. So it's a seesaw movement, but it is a very fast movement. It's very fast and it moves in a very low amplitude. So it's not a huge seesaw. It's a very tiny seesaw. And with that movement, you have a little bit of a tilt on your hip during that decline on the plate. It's like when we're walking. It's reciprocating like copying the movement of walking. And that triggers a contraction on the opposite side, the tilted. So all the muscles in that area will contract. So you're constantly contracting, relaxing your muscles without having an idea that you are doing that. So basically it's working with this stretch reflex complex that we mentioned. So you're contracting your muscle, sending a message to your spine saying, hey, you're losing your balance. Contract the other side or else you're going to fall. And that is doing it in a very small and delicate contraction. So the gross motor function classification system, it's a way to define the motor skills of a child. And they're used by doctors and physiotherapists to actually help to identify the needs of the child, not only now, but also for their future care. And because we have a huge range of health outcomes with cerebral palsy and musculoskeletal disability, they divide them in a group of five. Our studies, they focus on those with mild to severe cerebral palsy. So they go from level two, three, and four. And the study I'm presenting today for you are those from level two and three. The inclusion criteria and exclusion varies from study to study, so I won't get on the details to you. But these first initial photos on your left, they show participants that are considered level two on their gross motor function. So our first study was published at the beginning of this year and involved 40 adolescents with mild to moderate cerebral palsy. So the gross motor function are two and three. And they have an average of 16 years of age. So very good teenager bunch over there. And what was interesting, that compliance actually was quite good. They did, on overall, 74% of their sessions. And we take that to Patricia Cole that was actually making sure that they're doing it all the time. And for teenagers, that's quite good. The design is simple. It's a one leg study. So all the participants come. They do their assessments. Then they go and take the vibration test for the period of time of the study. And then we do the post-assessments on them. They can do the vibration, or they did the vibration at school or at home. And they did that in this specific study for 20 weeks. So approximately five months. And they needed to do it four times a week each day they could choose. And they needed to do it only nine minutes a day of vibration therapy. So we would stay on display for three minutes, rest a little bit, three minutes, rest a bit, three minutes, rest a bit. And the assessments they did included a six minute walk test. Some of you might have done it before. Basically walk between two cones. And we measured the distance you walk during the period of time. We also did some body composition scans to see how much muscle mass and bone density they had in different parts of their body. We used a CT scan to look at a little bit more details of their bone health and their muscle health. And we also looked at their muscle function on daily activities using a power plate. And we used that to measure the power and force generating activities such as standing from a chair or balancing both feet or maybe trying to jump. And what we saw after 20 weeks or five months, well, we noticed a change in the mobility. But the mobility measured by the six minute walk test. So in this graph, I have in red the results of the initial assessment of the kids and in blue their final assessment. And this first graph is the results from the children that were considered mild in mobility. So they're actually quite functional or those on level two. And they improved by the end of the training approximately 15% on the distance that they achieved at the end. So that was quite remarkable for them without adding anything else to their physiotherapy or care of physical activities. But what impressed us the most was the group that was actually moderate regarding their motor function had a greater improvement. They improved by approximately 35% their walking distance. So these are children that couldn't even walk to up to 50 meters. And now they're walking up to 100 or 150 meters. So that tells us that perhaps those that with more severe disability might benefit the most, but we still need to investigate further. So besides the changes on the six minute walk test, we also noticed from our scans that they improved their bone mass and density. And we look at that in areas such as the spine and lower limbs. And also they put it on muscle, approximately 800 grams, so almost a kilo of muscle mass on their body. And also we noticed that they decreased the time required, for example, to stand up from sitting. They were doing that faster and more efficiently. And also the time to walk from way for B. So quite positive results for that specific group, which was already quite mobile to start with. But what surprised me the most actual was feedback from families, participants, and physiotherapists. I enjoy hearing from them the experience, what they were feeling it, and how they were enjoying the experience. Both physiotherapists, the schools, moms, and family. I just put in a few of them here, but they were always saying that they could notice the small changes on their daily activities or actually at school functions and training or feeling. Basically they were feeling a little bit happier as well. And what the future brings, a lot of work, I hope. We still need to identify what's the most effective protocol to use in this equipment, who actually will benefit the most. Not everybody will benefit the same way. Also, when should we start this in this population? We are trying to plan to start next year. I study actually starting with kids they're younger as five years old. So we're seeing what's the best age to start. We need to create guidelines for the use of this equipment and also maybe start implementing them on the physiotherapy plans of individuals. So a lot of work coming up. And I wouldn't have done anything of this. And I wouldn't be here working for the last four years if it wasn't for the support from the Jubilee Cripple Children Foundation Trust, which had been supporting financially the staff work and the study and also our daily running. And also I would like to thank the Sir David Levin Foundation. They supported us on buying all the plates we have for the study and also the power plate. Again, we are very grateful for their support. We wouldn't have done any of the studies without their assistance. We are a small group, but a very fun one to work with. We have Professor Paul Hoffman, Ms. Patricia Cole. There is always running between schools driving all around Auckland. And she's really good at keeping the kids on track. Ms. Georgina Biggs, that is always helping us with the assessments and behind the scenes. And just at the right, that is always helping us with the final writing and summary of our results. But I think the most important people those actually doing the studies, being involved, their families, the schools, the physiotherapists, without them, I wouldn't be here. And I think with that, I'll finish my presentation. And thank you for your attention.