Effects of unilateral robotic limb loading on gait characteristics in subjects with chronic stroke

Background Hemiparesis after stroke often leads to impaired ankle motor control that impacts gait function. In recent studies, robotic devices have been developed to address this impairment. While capable of imparting forces to assist during training and gait, these devices add mass to the paretic l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Khanna, Ira (Author), Roy, Anindo (Contributor), Krebs, Hermano Igo (Contributor), Rodger, Mary M. (Author), Macko, Richard M. (Author), Forrester, Larry W. (Author)
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering (Contributor)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BioMed Central Ltd, 2010-09-28T20:39:57Z.
Subjects:
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042 |a dc 
100 1 0 |a Khanna, Ira  |e author 
100 1 0 |a Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Roy, Anindo  |e contributor 
100 1 0 |a Krebs, Hermano Igo  |e contributor 
700 1 0 |a Roy, Anindo  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Krebs, Hermano Igo  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Rodger, Mary M.  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Macko, Richard M.  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Forrester, Larry W.  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Effects of unilateral robotic limb loading on gait characteristics in subjects with chronic stroke 
260 |b BioMed Central Ltd,   |c 2010-09-28T20:39:57Z. 
856 |z Get fulltext  |u http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58740 
520 |a Background Hemiparesis after stroke often leads to impaired ankle motor control that impacts gait function. In recent studies, robotic devices have been developed to address this impairment. While capable of imparting forces to assist during training and gait, these devices add mass to the paretic leg which might encumber patients' gait pattern. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the added mass of one of these robots, the MIT's Anklebot, while unpowered, on gait of chronic stroke survivors during overground and treadmill walking. Methods Nine chronic stroke survivors walked overground and on a treadmill with and without the anklebot mounted on the paretic leg. Gait parameters, interlimb symmetry, and joint kinematics were collected for the four conditions. Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to examine for possible differences across four conditions for the paretic and nonparetic leg. Results The added inertia and friction of the unpowered anklebot had no statistically significant effect on spatio-temporal parameters of gait, including paretic and nonparetic step time and stance percentage, in both overground and treadmill conditions. Noteworthy, 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 (p < 0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that for these subjects the added inertia and friction of this backdriveable robot did not significantly alter their gait pattern. 
520 |a Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center ("Center of Excellence on Task-Oriented Exercise and Robotics in Neurological Diseases" under Grant B3688R) 
520 |a VA Medical Center Baltimore Geriatrics Research 
520 |a Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Centers 
520 |a University of Maryland at Baltimore. School of Medicine 
520 |a VA Advanced Career Development Award (grant B3390K) 
520 |a National Institute on Aging (Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Act Center) Pepper Center grant P60AG12583) 
546 |a en 
655 7 |a Article 
773 |t Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation