Staged treatment protocol for gait with hybrid assistive limb in the acute phase of patients with stroke.

In this study, we developed a novel staged HAL treatment protocol for patients with acute stroke. The Regain Program for Gait with HAL (RPG-HAL) was formulated in four steps, based on the severity of limb paralysis. Twenty-one patients with acute stroke received a combination treatment of RPG-HAL and conventional rehabilitation. The feasibility and safety of RPG-HAL were evaluated based on changes in physical function and activities of daily living (ADL). RPG-HAL yielded improvement in gait speed, cadence, step length, and functional ambulation category (FAC). The effect size was >0.8 in all measurements. FAC (1.90) and Barthel Index (BI) (1.92) exhibited the highest scores. Twelve out of fourteen patients with FAC 0 before RPG-HAL reached the upper FAC. Thus, earlier intervention using RPG-HAL as improving physical function, ADL, and gait ability in patients with stroke.
PMID: 33465002 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Assistive Technology - January 21, 2021 Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Assist Technol Source Type: research