Effect of a passive hip exoskeleton on walking distance in neurological patients

ABSTRACT

Severe neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis and acute events like stroke, spinal cord injuries, or other related pathologies have been shown to negatively impact the central and peripheral nervous systems, thus causing severe impairments to mobility. The development and utilization of exoskeletons as rehabilitation devices have shown good potential for improving patients’ gait function. Ten older adults (age: 68.9 ± 9.2 yrs; height: 1.65 ± 0.08 m; mass: 71.6 ± 11.0 kg) affected by neurological diseases impacting their gait function completed a 10-session gait training protocol where they walked for 10 minutes wearing a passive exoskeleton assisting hip flexion, namely, Exoband. Results showed that participants walked a significantly longer distance in the last session of training with respect to the first session (453.1 ± 178.8 m vs 392.4 ± 135.1 m, respectively). This study indicates the potential of Exoband as an effective tool for gait rehabilitation in patients with neurological diseases. Wearable, lightweight, and low-cost devices such as the one involved in this work have the potential to improve walking distance in patients.

KEYWORDS:

• gait
• neurological diseases
• passive exoskeleton
• rehabilitation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Centro Medico di Fisioterapia for patients recruitment and logistics and Antonio Orecchio, Pieremanuele Di Maria, Lucia Pramaor, Vanessa Buso, Valentina Nigris for their clinical assistance during data collection. The authors would like to thank also Laura Di Liddo for assistance during testing and help during data collection and Dr. Christian Pitcher for reviewing the English style.