A unilateral robotic knee exoskeleton to assess the role of natural gait assistance in hemiparetic patients.
Julio Salvador Lora-Millan, Francisco José Sanchez-Cuesta, Juan Pablo Romero and 2 others
PMID 36209096WHAT IT FOUND
In three chronic stroke patients, a unilateral knee exoskeleton improved gait symmetry on a treadmill.
The healthy pattern strategy worked better than copying the unaffected leg. Patients also changed their unaffected leg's movement to match, reducing compensation.
Key findings
01The healthy pattern strategy improved gait symmetry more effectively than the echo strategy in stroke patients.
02Improvements in symmetry resulted from changes in both the assisted paretic leg and the unassisted nonparetic leg.
03Wearing the device without active assistance reduced gait symmetry compared to walking without it.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only three stroke patients were tested, making it impossible to generalize findings. Testing was performed on a treadmill at self-selected speeds, not overground. The study was a proof of concept for the device, not a clinical trial of rehabilitation efficacy. The weight of the exoskeleton itself negatively affected gait symmetry in healthy subjects, which may also impact patients.
Declared interests
Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities and the Ministry of Science and Innovation. No commercial conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this device is ready for clinical use or that it improves walking outside a laboratory setting. The study involved only three patients walking on a treadmill for short periods, and the device's weight initially hindered gait symmetry.