Effects of Unilateral Robotic Limb Loading on Gait Characteristics in Subjects With Chronic Stroke
By Khanna, Ira; Roy, Anindo; Rodgers, Mary M.; Krebs, Hermano I.; Macko, Richard M.; Forrester, Larry W.; Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, Vol. 7, No. 23Publication Date: May 2010
Study assessed the effects of the added mass of a gait robot on the gait of patients with chronic stroke during overground and treadmill walking. The robot used in the study was the Anklebot, a backdriveable impedance device weighing 3.6 kilograms capable of imparting forces to assist during gait training. Study participants were 9 chronic stroke survivors aged 43 to 75 years, 4 of whom were male. Participants walked overground and on a treadmill with and without the unpowered Anklebot mounted on the paretic leg. Gait parameters, interlimb symmetry, and joint kinematics were collected for the 4 conditions. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to examine for possible differences across 4 conditions for the paretic and nonparetic leg. The added inertia and friction of the unpowered Anklebot had no statistically significant effect on spatiotemporal parameters of gait, including paretic and nonparetic step time and stance percentage, either in the overground or treadmill condition. Notably, interlimb symmetry as characterized by relative stance duration was greater on the treadmill than overground regardless of loading conditions. The presence of the unpowered robot loading reduced the nonparetic knee peak flexion on the treadmill and paretic peak dorsiflexion overground. The authors contend that for these participants, the added inertia and friction of the Anklebot did not significantly alter their gait pattern.
Published by: BioMed Central Ltd (Website:http://www.biomedcentral.com)
Link to text: http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/7/1/23
