Abstract
The correct choice and customization of an orthosis are crucial to obtain the best comfort and efficiency. This study explored the feasibility of a multivariate quantitative assessment of the functional efficiency of lower limb orthosis through a novel wearable system. Gait basographic parameters and energetic indexes were analysed during a Six-Minute Walking Test (6-MWT) through a cost-effective, non-invasive polygraph device, with a multichannel wireless transmission, that carried out electro-cardiograph (ECG); impedance-cardiograph (ICG); and lower-limb accelerations detection. Four subjects affected by Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) were recruited. The wearable device and the semi-automatic post-processing software provided a novel set of objective data to assess the overall efficiency of the patient-orthosis system. Despite the small number of examined subjects, the results obtained with this new approach encourage the application of the method thus enlarging the dataset to validate this promising protocol and measuring system in supporting clinical decisions and out of a laboratory environment.
Highlights
Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is a neuromuscular disease that is characterized by muscular weakness and pain, abnormal weariness and muscular atrophy, likely due to the viral destruction of the medullar motor neurons and to the consequent chronic degeneration of the motor units endings
Each subject was tested through the six-minute-walking test (6MWT), which has been used as an evaluation tool for monitoring the functional motor behaviour of both healthy and pathological subjects [22,23]
The physiological cost index and the total heart beat index showed a global loss of performances for each subject (PCI: 20.9 ± 18%, THBI: 14.8 ± 15.8%) when an orthosis was used
Summary
Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS) is a neuromuscular disease that is characterized by muscular weakness and pain, abnormal weariness and muscular atrophy, likely due to the viral destruction of the medullar motor neurons and to the consequent chronic degeneration of the motor units endings. The use of WT in the study and management of patients affected by movement disabilities is very promising, because it may improve the objectivity of the analysis through quantitative measures of the pathological events It may overcome the limits of the existing measurement systems, giving the opportunity to reach mid or long-term data recordings both in clinical and home environments with a non-invasive low-cost method. The present study aimed to assess the feasibility of a wearable unobtrusive approach to evaluate the kinematical/energetic efficiency of a lower limb orthosis through both basographic parameters and metabolic expenditures during a standard gait analysis protocol (6-MWT) The potentialities of this new method were gauged by investigating four clinical cases of subjects affected by the Post-Polio. Syndrome and to quantitatively assess the performances of the orthosis proposed by the caregivers
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