Design and simulation of a new powered gait orthosis for paraplegic patients

Background and Aim: This article describes the development and testing of a new powered gait orthosis to potentially assist spinal cord injury patients to walk by producing synchronized hip and knee joint movements. Technique: The first evaluation of the orthosis was performed without users, and was followed by evaluation of the orthosis performance using three healthy subjects to test the structure under weight-bearing conditions. The orthosis was primarily evaluated to ascertain its ability to generate appropriate hip and knee motion during walking. The walking experiments replicated the flexion and extension of both the hip and knee produced by the actuators which had previously been demonstrated during the initial computer simulations. Discussion: The results suggest that this new orthosis could be used to assist paraplegic subjects who have adequate ranges of motion and also with weakness or reduced tone to ambulate, and may also be suitable for other subjects with impaired lower limb function (e.g. stroke, poliomyelitis, myelomeningocele and traumatic brain injury provided they do not have increased tone or movement disorders. Clinical relevance The new powered gait orthosis can provide walking assistance for patients with a spinal cord injury who have a good range of motion at the hip and knee and who also have weakness or reduced tone.