Mediolateral damping of an overhead body weight support system assists stability during treadmill walking

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2020 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-020-00735-w · Published: July 28, 2020

Rehabilitation Biomedical Biomechanics

Simple Explanation

This study examines whether mediolateral damping in a body weight support system can improve walking stability. Mediolateral damping refers to the system's resistance to side-to-side movement. The researchers tested this by having able-bodied volunteers walk on a treadmill with and without mediolateral damping. They measured various stability metrics to see how the damping affected their balance. The results suggest that adding mediolateral damping to body weight support systems can indeed increase frontal plane stability during walking. This could be beneficial for patients with impaired balance.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

21 able-bodied volunteers

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
Body weight support, in general, leads to gait alterations such as increased step length and swing phase.
2
Frontal plane dynamic stability was increased under body weight support, indicating reduced balance requirements.
3
Adding damping to the body weight support resulted in a greater increase of frontal plane stability.

Research Summary

The study investigated the effect of mediolateral (ML) damping in a 3-DoF body weight support (BWS) system on walking stability in able-bodied individuals during treadmill walking. Results indicated that ML damping increases frontal plane dynamic stability compared to transparent BWS and free walking, primarily seen in kinematic variability and ML local dynamic parameters. The findings suggest that adjustable ML damping could enable therapists to customize unloading and stability support for individual patients, potentially enhancing gait and balance training in rehabilitation.

Practical Implications

Improved Gait Training

Mediolateral damping can be used to support patients with balance impairments during locomotor training without additional aids.

Personalized Therapy

Therapists can tailor the amount of stability support to each patient's individual needs, optimizing the balance between support and challenge during training.

Earlier Rehabilitation

Combining body weight support with customized stabilization allows critical training parameters to be increased, potentially leading to better recovery.

Study Limitations

1
COM kinematics were approximated using pelvis markers, which may differ from full-body marker set calculations.
2
The study only described subjects' motions through kinematics, without analyzing neuromuscular control adaptations.
3
Results may not directly generalize to overground walking due to the use of a treadmill for data collection.

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