Abstract: In this system an inertial reel is mounted beneath a platform, which is carried by a pair of trucks that roll along an overhead rail which is fastened to the ceiling of a hospital corridor or the like. Two, adjustable, rigid handles project downwardly from the platform to be gripped by a patient, who in turn is adapted to be connected by a harness to a retractable tether or cord, which extends downwardly from the inertial reel behind the patient. While gripping the handles the patient may walk beneath the overhead rail, thereby causing the trucks to roll on the rail and to maintain the platform above the patient. If the patient should suddenly stumble or fall, an hydraulic mechanism in the reel automatically brakes the trucks against movement on the rail and resists withdrawal of the cord from the reel, so that the patient is slowly lowered to the floor. The platform is rotatable by the patient 180.degree. relative to the overhead trucks so as to enable the patient to reverse his or her direction of movement.

Abstract: This restraint mechanism utilizes a flexible tether or cord, which is attachable at one end to a harness or garment worn by a patient, or the like, and which is attached at its opposite end to an inertial reel. The reel may be mounted for travel in a track or groove formed in a ceiling of a room or the like, or it may be fixed to the ceiling, or even to an overhead frame on a walker. A spring in the reel normally tends to retract the tether to maintain slight tension therein when it is attached to the patient's harness. If the patient should suddenly fall, a centrifugally or hydraulically operated safety mechanism in the reel immediately resists rotation of the reel in an unwinding direction, thereby causing the patient to be lowered gently to the floor. Also, should the tether suddenly be released from the patient's harness, the reel includes a centrifugally or hydraulically operated mechanism for preventing sudden retraction of the tether into the reel.