scholarly journals Development of a Knee Actuated Exoskeletal Gait Orthosis for Paraplegic Patients with Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: A Single Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Yoon Heo ◽  
Hyuk-Jae Choi ◽  
Seok-Jin Hwang ◽  
Jong-Won Lee ◽  
Chil-Yong Kwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Knee Joint ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Trunk Muscles ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Cord Injury

Gait training for paraplegic patients is effective in preventing various complications due to prolonged sitting. In these patients, the use of powered exoskeletal-gait-orthosis (EGO) consumes lower energy than traditional training methods using non-powered EGO, such as a reciprocating-gait-orthosis (RGO). Thus, long-term training is possible and effective in increasing the activity level of the trunk muscles. However, more than 60% of paraplegic patients have incomplete injuries with residual function, which is inversely related to the functional role of the orthosis. We hypothesized that the gait ability in incomplete paraplegia could be improved by knee joint activation, and we developed a lightweight knee-actuated EGO (KAEGO). We verified its effectiveness in one patient with an incomplete spinal cord injury by comparing the metabolic cost of transport (COT) measured by a six minute walk test to a traditional non-powered EGO. We found that with increasing assist torque to the knee joint, the COT decreased by up to 24.5%, and the gait performance, including walking speed and travel distance, significantly improved up to 37% compared to that of the non-powered EGO. Future studies should verify the KAEGO system’s effectiveness in a larger number of patients with various injury levels.

scholarly journals Training Effect of the Robot Suit HAL for Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: a Single Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenichi YOSHIKAWA ◽  
Masafumi MIZUKAMI ◽  
Ayumu SANO ◽  
Kazunori KOSEKI ◽  
Yasutsugu ASAKAWA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Training Effect ◽  
Single Case Study ◽  
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Cord Injury

Using a saddle-assistive device equipped with mechanical orthosis for walking of the person with incomplete spinal cord injury

2021 ◽  
pp. 095441192110201
Author(s):  
Akbar Hojjati Najafabadi ◽  
Saeid Amini ◽  
Farzam Farahmand
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Reaction Force ◽  
Assistive Devices ◽  
Assistive Device ◽  
Walking Ability ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury ◽  
Combined Application ◽  
Cord Injury

The majority of the people with incomplete spinal cord injury lose their walking ability, due to the weakness of their muscle motors in providing torque. As a result, developing assistive devices to improve their conditionis of great importance. In this study, a combined application of the saddle-assistive device (S-AD) and mechanical medial linkage or thosis was evaluated to improve the walking ability in patients with spinal cord injury in the gait laboratory. This mobile assistive device is called the saddle-assistive device equipped with medial linkage or thosis (S-ADEM). In this device, a mechanical orthosis was used in a wheeled walker as previously done in the literature. Initially, for evaluation of the proposed assistive device, the experimental results related to the forces and torques exerted on the feet and upper limbs of a person with the incomplete Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) during walking usingthe standard walker were compared with an those obtained from using the S-ADEM on an able-bodied subject. It was found that using this combination of assistive devices decreases the vertical force and torque on the foot at the time of walking by 53% and 48%, respectively compared to a standard walker. Moreover, the hand-reaction force on the upper limb was negligible instanding and walking positions usingthe introduced device. The findings of this study revealed that the walking ability of the patients with incomplete SCI was improved using the proposed device, which is due to the bodyweight support and the motion technology used in it.

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