Browse the latest research summaries in the field of assistive technology for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 151-160 of 583 results
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2021 • December 17, 2021
This study explores eyes-free tongue control of a five-DOF upper-limb exoskeleton, comparing tongue gestures with dynamic virtual buttons and joystick-like control. The results showed that it was poss...
KEY FINDING: It was possible to control the exoskeleton with the tongue even without visual feedback, performing the drinking task at 65.1% of the speed of the gamepad.
Phys Ther Res, 2021 • December 6, 2021
This review discusses the neural mechanisms of gait and explores the restoration of gait function in stroke patients with severe hemiplegia through alternate gait training (AGT) using a knee-ankle-foo...
KEY FINDING: Alternate gait training (AGT) using a KAFO may benefit stroke patients with severe hemiparesis.
JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol, 2022 • January 19, 2022
With an overall MAPEall lesions of 12.99%, the accuracy fell below the standard acceptable MAPE of –10% to +10% with a moderate agreement (concordance correlation coefficient=0.577). The HR accuracy o...
KEY FINDING: HR measured with the PPG technique showed lower accuracy in people with SCI than in those without SCI.
Frontiers in Medical Technology, 2021 • October 8, 2021
This study explores the lived experience of individuals with spinal cord injuries using the ReWalk exoskeleton, revealing that successful integration depends on social and organizational processes, no...
KEY FINDING: The meaning of mobility extends beyond functional ability; standing and walking with the exoskeleton held socio-cultural significance linked to self-identity and life priorities. Physical mobility represents more than functional capacity.
Sensors, 2022 • January 11, 2022
This study presents an open-source electrical stimulation system designed to enhance research into FES-assisted devices, specifically for cycling, to enable recreational physical activity for individu...
KEY FINDING: The developed high-power FES device can generate biphasic electrical pulses with amplitude, width, and frequency up to 150 mA, 1000 µs, and 100 Hz, respectively.
Medicine, 2022 • January 28, 2022
This study is a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of lower limb exoskeletons in improving gait function in patients with spinal cord injury (SC...
KEY FINDING: The review intends to provide evidence on the effectiveness and safety of lower limb exoskeletons in improving lower limb function for patients with spinal cord injury.
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2022 • January 1, 2022
This study presents a real-time motion onset recognition system for gait-related tasks, crucial for automated gait analysis and switching between task-dependent supports in rehabilitation robots. A wi...
KEY FINDING: A single-layer neural network with 25 neurons achieved the best performance among five classifiers tested.
Spinal Cord, 2022 • January 29, 2022
This multi-site, randomized controlled trial investigated the efficacy of exoskeleton gait training compared to standard gait training or usual care in individuals with chronic incomplete spinal cord ...
KEY FINDING: Exoskeleton training can improve clinical ambulatory status in chronic SCI participants with independent stepping ability at baseline.
Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022 • January 20, 2022
This paper presents a hybrid lower-limb exoskeleton that combines functional electrical stimulation (FES) and electric motors to assist with treadmill walking. The system uses a nonlinear robust contr...
KEY FINDING: The controllers developed in this study achieved repeatable and consistent kinematic joint trajectories as a function of the gait cycle.
Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 2022 • January 4, 2022
This study investigated the effects of exoskeleton-assisted walking (EAW) training, with and without trans-spinal stimulation (TSS), on body composition, oxygen consumption, and physical activity in i...
KEY FINDING: Twelve weeks of EAW training significantly attenuated markers of obesity relevant to cardiometabolic health in eight men with chronic SCI.