Motor modules during adaptation to walking in a powered ankle exoskeleton.
Daniel A Jacobs, Jeffrey R Koller, Katherine M Steele and 1 others
PMID 29298705WHAT IT FOUND
The number and organization of muscle coordination patterns stayed the same when eight healthy men walked with powered versus unpowered ankle exoskeletons.
Practice made the patterns fit the recorded signals better, and timing changed more than muscle weightings.
Key findings
01The number and organization of muscle coordination modules were preserved when the ankle exoskeleton was powered versus unpowered.
02Practice across sessions and trials improved how well the extracted muscle patterns matched the recorded signals.
03The muscles assigned to each module changed less than when they were active, and the powered and unpowered conditions differed more in timing than in weightings.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Only eight healthy male subjects were studied, so it does not show what happens in patients with mobility problems. The study measured muscle signal patterns, not patient outcomes. The powered and unpowered conditions were not randomized, and every subject had a 10 minute unpowered period before a 30 minute powered period. More time was spent in the powered condition than in the unpowered condition, which may have affected the small reconstruction quality difference. It tested one treadmill speed, one ankle exoskeleton, and one myoelectric controller, so other devices or speeds may behave differently.
Declared interests
The funding section names the US Department of Defense and NSF. No author conflict statements are included in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that powered ankle exoskeletons improve walking in patients. It tested eight healthy men, measured muscle signal patterns rather than function, and did not randomize condition order.