Article

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects on common poststroke
gait compensations of a soft wearable robot (exosuit) designed to assist the
paretic limb during hemiparetic walking. DESIGN: A single-session study of eight
individuals in the chronic phase of stroke recovery was conducted. Two testing
conditions were compared: walking with the exosuit powered versus walking with
the exosuit unpowered.
Each condition was 8 minutes in duration. RESULTS:
Compared with walking with the exosuit unpowered, walking with the exosuit
powered resulted in reductions in hip hiking (27 [6%], P = 0.004) and
circumduction (20 [5%], P = 0.004). A relationship between changes in knee
flexion and changes in hip hiking was observed (Pearson r = -0.913, P < 0.001).
Similarly, multivariate regression revealed that changes in knee flexion (beta =
-0.912, P = 0.007), but not ankle dorsiflexion (beta = -0.194, P = 0.341),
independently predicted changes in hip hiking (R = 0.87,
F(2, 4) = 13.48, P = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Exosuit assistance of the paretic limb during walking
produces immediate changes in the kinematic strategy used to advance the paretic
limb. Future work is necessary to determine how exosuit-induced reductions in
paretic hip hiking and circumduction during gait training could be leveraged to
facilitate more normal walking behavior during unassisted walking.

Langue : ANGLAIS