A Powered Lower Limb Orthosis for Providing Legged Mobility in Paraplegic Individuals.

This paper presents preliminary results on the development of a powered lower limb orthosis intended to provide legged mobility (with the use of a stability aid, such as forearm crutches) to paraplegic individuals. The orthosis contains electric motors at both hip and both knee joints, which in conjunction with ankle-foot orthoses, provides appropriate joint kinematics for legged locomotion. The paper describes the orthosis and the nature of the controller that enables the SCI patient to command the device, and presents data from preliminary trials that indicate the efficacy of the orthosis and controller in providing legged mobility.

[1]  R W Hanson,et al.  Sexual loss in relation to other functional losses for spinal cord injured males. , 1976, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[2]  Hanson Rw,et al.  Sexual loss in relation to other functional losses for spinal cord injured males. , 1976 .

[3]  R. Major,et al.  The technique of reciprocal walking using the hip guidance orthosis (hgo) with crutches , 1984, Prosthetics and orthotics international.

[4]  Eben Alexander.  Spinal cord injury. A guide for patient and family , 1988 .

[5]  F E Zajac,et al.  Modeling and simulation of paraplegic ambulation in a reciprocating gait orthosis. , 1995, Journal of biomechanical engineering.

[6]  I Canale,et al.  The efficiency of walking of paraplegic patients using a reciprocating gait orthosis , 1995, Paraplegia.

[7]  Ruthenberg Bj,et al.  An experimental device for investigating the force and power requirements of a powered gait orthosis. , 1997 .

[8]  Glen M Davis,et al.  A comparison of the attitude of paraplegic individuals to the Walkabout Orthosis and the Isocentric Reciprocal Gait Orthosis , 1997, Spinal Cord.

[9]  H. Yano,et al.  A new concept of dynamic orthosis for paraplegia: The weight bearing control (WBC) orthosis , 1997, Prosthetics and orthotics international.

[10]  Maarten J. IJzerman,et al.  The influence of the reciprocal cable linkage in the advanced reciprocating gait orthosis on paraplegic gait performance , 1997, Prosthetics and orthotics international.

[11]  B. Ruthenberg,et al.  An experimental device for investigating the force and power requirements of a powered gait orthosis. , 1997, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[12]  Maarten J. IJzerman,et al.  The influence of the reciprocal hip joint link in the Advanced Reciprocating Gait Orthosis on standing performance in paraplegia , 1997, Prosthetics and orthotics international.

[13]  G M Davis,et al.  Energy expenditure during gait using the walkabout and isocentric reciprocal gait orthoses in persons with paraplegia. , 1998, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[14]  R. Triolo,et al.  Consumer perspectives on mobility: implications for neuroprosthesis design. , 2002, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[15]  M Akai,et al.  Energy expenditure during walking with weight-bearing control (WBC) orthosis in thoracic level of paraplegic patients , 2003, Spinal Cord.

[16]  M Molinari,et al.  A prototype of an adjustable advanced reciprocating gait orthosis (ARGO) for spinal cord injury (SCI) , 2003, Spinal Cord.

[17]  A. Cormerais,et al.  Energy consumption of paraplegic locomotion using reciprocating gait orthosis , 2006, European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology.

[18]  M. A. Townsend,et al.  Powered walking machine prosthesis for paraplegics , 2006, Medical and biological engineering.

[19]  K. Nakazawa,et al.  A two-degree-of-freedom motor-powered gait orthosis for spinal cord injury patients , 2007, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine.

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

[21]  Z. Stojiljkovic,et al.  Development of active anthropomorphic exoskeletons , 2007, Medical and biological engineering.

[22]  Tony Unsworth,et al.  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part H. , 2008, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine.

[23]  Yasuhisa Hasegawa,et al.  Standing-up motion support for paraplegic patient with Robot Suit HAL , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics.

[24]  Yasuhisa Hasegawa,et al.  Cooperative walk control of paraplegia patient and assistive system , 2009, 2009 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[25]  Yasuhisa Hasegawa,et al.  Sit-to-Stand and Stand-to-Sit Transfer Support for Complete Paraplegic Patients with Robot Suit HAL , 2010, Adv. Robotics.