Trunk muscle activity patterns and motion patterns of patients with motor complete spinal cord injury at T8 and T10 walking with different un-powered exoskeletons.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore how neurological injured levels of spinal cord affect the performance of patients walking with different un-powered exoskeletons.

STUDY DESIGN

Case series observational study.

SETTING

Gait and Motion Analysis Laboratory at the National Research Center Rehabilitation Technical Aids.

METHODS

Electromyography and motion data from two subjects with complete spinal cord injury at T10 and T8 walking with un-powered exoskeletons were collected simultaneously.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Surface electromyography of trunk muscles and motion data including joint angle and center of mass (COM).

RESULTS

Compared to T10 subject, T8 subject activated trunk muscles in higher levels walking with all tested un-powered exoskeletons and had greater pelvic obliquity walking with reciprocating gait orthosis (RGO) and energy-stored exoskeleton (ES-EXO). ES-EXO can redistribute muscle forces, recruit trunk muscles evenly, increase walking speed and improve COM trajectory in frontal plane.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed differences in kinematics and muscle activities in walking with three un-powered exoskeletons between two patients with different neurological injured levels. ES-EXO had advantages over conventional un-powered exoskeletons on recruiting muscles evenly and improving walking speed, step length and COM trajectory.