Walking as “Grounding”: An Ethnography of Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation and Patients’ Aspirations in South Korea

Abstract

Based upon the view that walking is a highly social act, i.e. “grounding” oneself in the realities, not just the medium of “moving,” this paper explores robot-assisted rehabilitation and patients’ aspirations concerning it. Fieldwork conducted in rehabilitation hospitals and disability centers in South Korea, reveals that rehabilitative medicine settles uneasily on the notion of neuroplasticity as a theoretical tool to legitimize robot-assisted therapy sessions, in the absence both of upstream treatment options such as stem cell therapy and their discernible benefits over human-based intervention. The patient’s clear preference to walk rather than to move, and hence to regain the whole package of sociality associated with the bodily technique underlies their high expectations toward robots. Under these insights, the paper argues that, for the field to enhance its clinical impact, the current regime focused on mechanical, or neurophysiological, aspects of walking should incorporate elements vitalizing the sociality constitutive of it.

Keywords:

• Robot-assisted rehabilitation
• walking
• grounding
• South Korea
• neuroplasticity

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 It was granted by Institutional Review Board, Pohang University of Science and Technology (exemption number: PIRB-2023-E024).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seonsam Na

Seonsam Na is a physician practicing Korean medicine (KMD), a mainstream form of medicine associated with traditional East-Asian medicine. Holding a doctorate in social anthropology from the University of Oxford, he is affiliated with Institute of Medical History, Yonsei University as Adjunct Professor and gives lectures in the Oxford Postgraduate Psychiatry Course, University of Oxford. His interests include medical politics, Guillain-Barré syndrome, religious healing, ageing and artificial intelligence/robotics in healthcare.

Eunjeong Ma

Eunjeong Ma is affiliated with the Department of Convergence IT Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea. She is a scholar in the field of Science and Technology Studies and critical educator in engineering education. She has been researching the socio-cultural and ethical dimensions of medical innovations, as well as the hybrid form of engineering education. Her current research is focused on robotic care, with particular attention to the role and meanings of “senses” and “touch” in the age of artificial intelligence and robots.