Effects of overground gait training assisted by a wearable exoskeleton in patients with Parkinson's disease.
Virginie Otlet, Clémence Vandamme, Thibault Warlop and 2 others
PMID 37974229WHAT IT FOUND
Eight patients with Parkinson's disease trained with a wearable hip exoskeleton.
They walked faster and with longer strides immediately after training and one month later. However, standard clinical tests for motor symptoms and balance did not show significant improvement.
Key findings
01Gait speed and stride length increased, while stride duration decreased, immediately after training and remained improved one month later.
02Hip range of motion increased immediately after training and remained increased one month later.
03There was no significant difference in the long-range autocorrelations of stride durations, a marker of gait stability, between the pre-training and post-training sessions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study had a very small sample size of only eight patients, which limits the generalizability of the findings. There was no control group, so it is impossible to determine if the improvements were due to the exoskeleton assistance or the act of walking training itself. The patients had mild to moderate disease (Hoehn & Yahr 1–2.5), so the results may not apply to patients with more advanced Parkinson's disease. The improvements in gait metrics were not sustained in terms of the LRA marker, which returned to baseline or worse after the wash-out period, suggesting a lack of long-term retention for this specific stability metric.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests. The study was supported by non-U.S. government funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the exoskeleton is superior to conventional gait training. Without a control group, the observed improvements in speed and stride length could be the result of the exercise itself rather than the robotic assistance.