Robot-Assisted End-Effector-Based Stair Climbing for Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing: Feasibility, Reliability, and Repeatability.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Neurological impairments can limit the implementation of conventional cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and cardiovascular training strategies. A promising approach to provoke cardiovascular stress while facilitating task-specific exercise in people with disabilities is feedback-controlled robot-assisted end-effector-based stair climbing (RASC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and repeatability of augmented RASC-based CPET in able-bodied subjects, with a view towards future research and applications in neurologically impaired populations.

Methods

Twenty able-bodied subjects performed a familiarisation session and 2 consecutive incremental CPETs using augmented RASC. Outcome measures focussed on standard cardiopulmonary per

SUBMITTER: Stoller O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4743938 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature