Wearable exoskeletons for the physical treatment of children with quadriparesis

Quadriparesis, caused by a number of congenital and acquired neuropathologies, affects children with the symptoms of weakness and motor impairment in all four limbs. The physical treatment of this disease could be hypothetically improved by the use of wearable exoskeletons which would contribute to avoiding the side effects of the permanent sitting position: scoliosis, osteoporosis, spasticity, respiratory disorders, blood circulation problems, among others. Overall, the use of a wearable exoskeleton would contribute substantially to the improvement of these children's quality of life. This paper presents the first pédiatrie wearable exoskeleton for the physical treatment of this disease. The paper shows the main components of the device and the laboratory proof of concept in two voluntary subjects.

[1]  Juan Carlos Arevalo,et al.  An Adjustable Compliant Joint for Lower-Limb Exoskeletons , 2015, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[2]  Annie L. Raich,et al.  Surgical Correction of Scoliosis in Children with Spastic Quadriplegia: Benefits, Adverse Effects, and Patient Selection , 2014, Evidence-Based Spine-Care Journal.

[3]  Stefano Stramigioli,et al.  Variable stiffness actuators: A port-based analysis and a comparison of energy efficiency , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[4]  Juan Carlos Arevalo,et al.  Control Motion Approach of a Lower Limb Orthosis to Reduce Energy Consumption , 2012 .

[5]  J. Carlin,et al.  Using the Gross Motor Function Classification System to describe patterns of motor severity in cerebral palsy , 2011, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[6]  Jerry E Pratt,et al.  Design and evaluation of Mina: A robotic orthosis for paraplegics , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics.

[7]  A. Esquenazi,et al.  The ReWalk Powered Exoskeleton to Restore Ambulatory Function to Individuals with Thoracic-Level Motor-Complete Spinal Cord Injury , 2012, American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation.

[8]  B. Chiarelli,et al.  The Atlas Project , 2006 .

[9]  Yasuhisa Hasegawa,et al.  Intention-based walking support for paraplegia patients with Robot Suit HAL , 2007, Adv. Robotics.

[10]  Elena Garcia,et al.  A lower-limb exoskeleton for gait assistance in quadriplegia , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO).

[11]  H. Topaloglu,et al.  Prednisolone therapy in Duchenne muscular dystrophy prolongs ambulation and prevents scoliosis , 2004, European journal of neurology.