Overground walking with a robotic exoskeleton elicits trunk muscle activity in people with high-thoracic motor-complete spinal cord injury.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The trunk muscles are critical for postural control. Recent neurophysiological studies have revealed sparing of trunk muscle function in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) classified with thoracic or cervical motor-complete injuries. These findings raise the possibility for recruiting and retraining this spared trunk function through rehabilitation. Robotic gait training devices may provide a means to promote trunk muscle activation. Thus, the objective of this study was to characterize and compare the activation of the trunk muscles during walking with two robotic gait training devices (Ekso and Lokomat) in people with high thoracic motor-complete SCI.

Methods

Participants with chronic motor-complete paraplegia performed 3 speed-matched walking conditions:

SUBMITTER: Alamro RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6245830 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature