Can a passive unilateral hip exosuit diminish walking asymmetry? A randomized trial.

Healthy young adults were recruited from a college campus, so the findings may not apply to people with stroke or other walking impairments. Only 15 participants were studied, and the sample size was not based on a power analysis. Participants and researchers were not blinded. One participant was removed from the step-length analysis as an outlier. The exosuit was tested only on the limb on the slow belt, so results may differ if placed on the fast-belt limb. Comfort, fit, and appearance of the device were not assessed. The device was tested only for a short treadmill session, not overground walking or repeated training.

Funding came from a Graduate Research and Creative Activity Grant from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the NU Collaboration Initiative, and the National Science Foundation. The paper lists no author conflict-of-interest declarations.

Do not conclude that a passive hip exosuit reduces walking asymmetry in people with stroke. This was a small randomized trial in healthy young adults with experimentally induced split-belt asymmetry, and the exosuit did not change step length asymmetry compared with split-belt alone or improve stance or swing time symmetry.