Making Sense, Part A

When my daughter's physical therapist showed me a Benik vest this past Monday, my mind made all kinds of associations -- with:

• compression garments worn by elite athletes; 
• KT (Kinesiology Therapeutic) tape; 
• the "suit" method;
• this passage from Beyond Boundaries (2011) by Duke U. neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis:

Unraveling the brain's intricate workings by building advanced BMIs (brain-machine interfaces) will lead to the development of amazing new therapies and cures for those afflicted by devastating neurological disorders. Such patients will be allowed to regain mobility and the sense and feeling in an otherwise lame body through a variety of neuroprosthetics, devices the size of a modern pacemaker that harvest healthy brain electrical activity to coordinate the contractions of a silk-thin wearable robot, a vest as delicate as a second skin but as protective as a beetle's exoskeleton -- a suit capable of supporting a paralyzed person's weight...

How come those (four [4]) connections? What underlying things do they have in common? More importantly to me: What hopes might said devices / methods hold for improving the lives of kids like my daughter, and for -- in Nicolelis' words again -- enabling formerly immobile bodies to roam, run, and once again exult in exploring the world freely? 

I want my daughter to exult. 


I am therefore fixin' to make sense of these things. And to report back.