Comparing walking with knee‑ankle‑foot orthoses and a knee‑powered exoskeleton after spinal cord injury: a randomized, crossover clinical trial

This study compares the use of a knee-powered lower limb exoskeleton against conventional knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs) in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The goal was to determine if the exoskeleton could improve gait and reduce energy expenditure compared to KAFOs. Ten participants with SCI completed a gait training program using both the exoskeleton and KAFOs. Gait kinematics, spatiotemporal parameters, and energy expenditure were measured. While the exoskeleton improved gait kinematics, it did not significantly reduce energy consumption compared to KAFOs. Participants felt the exoskeleton was safer than KAFOs.

• 1
  Walking with the ABLE Exoskeleton improved gait kinematics, providing a more physiological gait pattern with less compensatory movements, specifically a 38% reduction of circumduction.
• 2
  Step length significantly increased by 26.0% when walking with the ABLE Exoskeleton compared to KAFOs.
• 3
  Participants found the ABLE Exoskeleton to be significantly safer than KAFOs.