Robotic Rehabilitation in Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Study on End-Effectors and Neurophysiological Outcomes.

Robotic Rehabilitation in Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Study on End-Effectors and Neurophysiological Outcomes. Ann Biomed Eng. 2020 Sep 11;: Authors: Calabrò RS, Filoni S, Billeri L, Balletta T, Cannavò A, Militi A, Milardi D, Pignolo L, Naro A Abstract Robot-aided gait training (RAGT) has been implemented to provide patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) with a physiological limb activation during gait, cognitive engagement, and an appropriate stimulation of peripheral receptors, which are essential to entrain neuroplasticity mechanisms supporting functional recovery. We aimed at assessing whether RAGT by means of an end-effector device equipped with body weight support could improve functional ambulation in patients with subacute, motor incomplete SCI. In this pilot study, 15 patients were provided with six RAGT sessions per week for eight consecutive weeks. The outcome measures were muscle strength, ambulation, going upstairs, and disease burden. Furthermore, we estimated the activation patterns of lower limb muscles during RAGT by means of surface electromyography and the resting state networks' functional connectivity (RSN-FC) before and after RAGT. Patients achieved a clinically significant improvement in the clinical outcome measures substantially up to six months post-treatment. These data were paralleled by an improvement in the stair-climbing cycle and a potentiating of frequency-specific and area-specific RSN-FC patterns....
Source: Annals of Biomedical Engineering - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Ann Biomed Eng Source Type: research