Abstract
In recent years, the Body Weight Support system has been considered to be an indispensable component in gait training systems, which be used to improve the ability to walk of hemiplegic, stroke, and spinal cord injury patients. Previous studies investigated the influence of the Body Weight Support system on gait parameters were based on the implementation with healthy subjects or patients with high assistance. Consequently, the influences of the Body Weight Support systems on gait rehabilitation in clinical practice are still unclear and need further investigation. In this study, we investigated the effects of the two Body Weight Support systems, the active body weight support system and the Counter Weight system, on an abnormal gait, which was generated by restriction of the right knee joint and 3 kg-weight on the right ankle joint. Both Body Weight Support systems improve the gait parameters of the abnormal gait such as the center of mass, the center of pressure, margin of stability, and step parameters. The active Body Weight Support system with the unloading force modulation showed more advanced and better behavior in comparison with the Counter Weight system. The results suggested the applicability of two Body Weight Support systems in clinical practice as a recovered gait intervention.
Highlights
Hemiparesis and impaired ambulation are commonly resultant of spinal cord injury and stroke [1,2]
We investigate the influence of the unmodulated Body Weight Support (BWS) system based on the Counter Weight (CW) system and modulated BWS system power by the Pneumatic Muscle
We aimed to examine and evaluate the effects of the ABWS and CW systems on an abnormal gait that looked like a hemiplegic patient
Summary
Hemiparesis and impaired ambulation are commonly resultant of spinal cord injury and stroke [1,2]. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (the United States (US)), the estimated number of people with SCI living in the United States is approximately 291,000 persons, with a range from 249,000 to 363,000 persons, about 17,730 new SCI cases (equivalent to 54 cases/million population) each year [3]. A report from the American Heart Association showed that an estimated 7.0 million Americans ≥20 years of age had a stroke [8]. In terms of stroke patients, the new sufferers of stroke in the US are from 795,000 cases, about 26% remained disabled in necessary activities of daily living, and about
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