https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7471-8662
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Abstract
As spasticity is a major cause of illness in patients that suffer from spinal cord injury (SCI), there are several limitations in the present robotic-based therapy for the treatment of acute SCI patients. A large literature is present for the use of full body exoskeletons, but due to their limitations such as uneasiness due to repetitive motion, does not meet the anthropometric range. As manual therapy is tiresome, a need for ankle-foot therapy exoskeleton was felt and Ankle-Foot Orthosis was developed. This paper presents an ankle-foot therapy exoskeleton device for spasticity treatment of acute SCI patients to reduce the manual efforts of physiotherapists. The proposed device has one Degree of Freedom (DOF) in the sagittal plane in ankle joint. This paper analyses the control design of the prototype and clinical trial results on SCI patients, which show that the proposed prototype is viable in improving the range of ankle motion alleviating the spasticity with p = 0.000365.
Acknowledgements
This research is sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, GOI. The authors acknowledge the support extended by Director, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research – Central Scientific Instruments Organization, Chandigarh and Director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh and Indian Spinal Injury Centre, New Delhi.
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Notes on contributors
Divya Shakti
Divya Shakti obtained Master of Engineering in electrical engineering (Instrumentation and Control) from National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research, Chandigarh. Her Bachelor of Technology is from KIET, Ghaziabad affiliated to UPTU. She has one year of experience in teaching and more than five years of experience in the research industry. Her areas of interests are lower limb rehabilitation device, miomedical signal processing, cognitive load estimation using different biophysiological signals, microcontroller and microprocessors-based controlled devices. She published 4 journal and 3 conference papers. Email: [email protected]
Ratan Das
Ratan Das obtained Masters in Technology in electronics design and technology from Tezpur Central University, India. He’s currently working as senior research fellow and pursuing his PhD from CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh. His areas of interest are development of sensors for gait biomechanics, instrumentation and control for gait assistive and rehabilitation devices. He has published 6 journal and conference papers. Email: [email protected]
Neelesh Kumar
Neelesh Kumar obtained PhD in engineering in the area of gait analysis & biomechanics. He is presently working as principal scientist in biomedical instrumentation Unit of CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh. He has more than 17 years’ experience and his areas of interest are techniques for gait assessment, sensor development, design and development of assistive devices and methods to quantify rehabilitation. He has published more than 50 journals and conference papers.
Lini Mathew
Lini Mathew is associate professor in the Electrical Engineering Department of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research, Chandigarh, India. She holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Kerala University, and master's and PhD degrees from Punjab University. She has 33 years of experience out of which 2 years are of industrial and the rest of teaching. She has guided more than 90 master degree theses while 4 doctoral theses are in the pipeline. She has published more than 100 papers in national and international journals and conferences. Her areas of specialization are power systems, soft computing techniques, virtual instrumentation, biomedical instrumentation etc. Email: [email protected]
Takshima Seth
Takshima Seth obtained Masters of Physiotherapy from Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi, India. She holds a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy from Nitte Institute of Physiotherapy, Karnataka, India. Her areas of interest are Clinical Orthopedic, spine biomechanics, kinesio taping, cupping therapy, movement dysfunction and motor control approach. She has presented a scientific poster in international conference organized by AIIMS, New Delhi. Email: [email protected]
Chitra Kataria
Chitra Kataria is chief of Rehabilitation Services, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi and principal, ISIC Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences. She holds PhD in physiotherapy & rehabilitation, masters in physiotherapy, fellowship in orthopaedics and rehabilitation, visiting fellow Italy and U K, & asian representative of The International Network of SCI physiotherapists (SCIPT), Member IAP, DCPTOT, Spinal Cord Society. She has 27 years of experience including clinical, teaching, administrative and organizational experience in the field of spinal cord injury and rehabilitation involved in managing several patients with disabilities such as spinal cord injury, other musculoskeletal and neurological disabilities etc. She has focused on the principle of holistic healing where emphasis is laid on innovative therapies, such as hydrotherapy, wheelchair sports, wheelchair skills training, wheelchair dance, alternative therapies like-meditation, yoga, and hippotherapy, and also introduced the concept of active rehabilitation of spinal cord injuries patients in India. She has also pioneered one of the most unique and first time ever rehabilitation training of patients through Tele-Rehabilitation and she has taken the initiative to set up Tele-Rehabilitation Unit (E-Seva Centre) in India. Email: [email protected]