Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technology
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Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol · May 2014
Influence of orthotic gait training with powered hip orthosis on walking in paraplegic patients.
Gait training has been shown to improve the walking performance of spinal cord-injured (SCI) patients. The use of powered hip orthoses (PHO) during gait training is one approach which could potentially improve rehabilitative outcomes for such subjects. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the influence of a PHO on the kinematics and temporal-spatial parameters of walking by SCI patients. ⋯ Powered hip orthosis could be used by spinal cord injury patients. A major advantage of the orthotic gait training with powered hip orthosis was regeneration of hip movement closer to that of normal human walking. The orthotic gait training with the powered hip orthosis improved the kinematics and temporalspatial parameters in a spinal cord injury patient which also produced near-normal hip joint angle patterns during gait.