Step by step towards the future: ex-professional athlete Dmitry Chachin trains with the stair climbing aid

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Former professional athlete Dmitri Tschatschin trains with the stair climbing aid. “With a spinal cord injury, you naturally don’t expect that. This is now a new life task and what doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.”

Watch the video of Dmitri's rehabilitation with the stair climbing aid.

Since he can remember, the 31-year-old former professional motorsport athlete Dmitri Tschatschin has been sitting on a motorcycle and has turned his passion into a profession. Between 2004 and 2011, he pursued a professional career in motorsport and was part of the national team.

Dmitri Tschatschin im auto
Dmitri Tschatschin fÀhrt motorrad

Dmitri is a three-time German vice champion and bronze medalist at the 2007 World Championships and lives his passion. He has experienced a lot through motorsport. But on August 26, 2016 – during training – his life changes fundamentally.


The accident happens during what should have been a harmless jump over a so-called Table.

Dmitri jumps too far, loses grip on the footrests upon landing, speeds over a steep wall, and lands on his back. He shatters his knee, breaks his 12th thoracic vertebra, and suffers a spinal cord compression, a bruising of the spinal cord, which leads to an incomplete spinal cord injury in Dmitri.

After the accident, Dmitri spends two weeks in the hospital, followed by early rehabilitation and two months of inpatient rehabilitation at a clinic in Passau. There, he is put on his feet for the first time. Despite initial attempts, climbing stairs was out of the question for now.

After initial progress, he begins a 14-month outpatient rehabilitation program, during which he receives one hour of physiotherapy, massage, equipment training, and electrostimulation daily.

Dmitri Tschatschin Rehab
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Dmitri Tschatschin Exoskeleton Cross-Section Training

From April 2018, Dmitri is inpatient at the Geerlofs Rehabilitation Center in Pforzheim, where he undergoes six hours of therapy daily.


“In the seven weeks, we have achieved a lot through six hours of training per day. The previous rehab is no comparison to that.”


Dmitri spends 14 weeks at the Geerlofs Rehabilitation Center. There, walking on flat ground is practiced, as well as stair climbing.

The stair climbing aid is a stair walker, which one holds onto the handle and can concentrate on safe stair climbing. Dmitri’s first impression:

“I like it, it works great, you can go up the stairs more easily with it, it provides security and that is very positive. It is difficult to trust something you do not yet know when you cannot control your legs 100% correctly. It is easier than with a stair railing. Definitely – you quickly gain confidence in the stair climbing aid.”

TOPRO Steps’ great advantage is that you have to use your legs a lot for therapy purposes, and that is what is important.

 — Dmitri Tschatschin (31)

Screenshots from the video show Dmitri's rehabilitation and his stair training.

During stair training without the stair climbing aid, the full force and effort is on the arms.

“If you sit in a wheelchair for a long time, it’s a stupid habit to do everything with your arms. The big advantage of TOPRO Steps is that you have to do a lot with your legs for therapy purposes, and that’s what’s important.”

Dmitri says that his everyday life hasn’t changed much and he still does what he enjoys. He takes longer for everything and needs help when he encounters stairs. His life still revolves around motorsport. Once motorsport, always motorsport!

“Sitting in a wheelchair, staring at the wall, and crying was never the goal from the beginning,” he explains to us.

Another goal is that he can walk again.

“Not 10 km, not 3 km, and even if it’s only 100 m. What’s important is that it works, and it works alone. We still need some time, strength, sweat, ambition, patience, and motivation.”

What are the advantages of the stair climbing aid?


“The security, quite clearly. You can also go up the stairs alone, without someone having to watch over you. That works. A huge advantage is the mental aspect – having the confidence. The fact that as a paraplegic with some function in the legs, you can go up the stairs is the biggest advantage.”

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