Review: Robot Devices for Gait Rehabilitation

The main motivation of gait rehabilitation is to help a patient recovering from injury, illness or disease, to recover some locomotor abilities in order to promote as much independence as possible in activities of daily living tasks, and to assist the patient in compensating for deficits that cannot be treated medically. However, the amount of hands-on therapy that patients can receive is limited, as economic pressures are inherent in the health care system. Therefore, worldwide efforts are being made to automate locomotor training. Robotic devices has the potential to make therapy more affordable and thus more available for more patients and for more time. This article reviews the most important characteristics and features of the current robot devices for gait rehabilitation, both in clinical use and in the phase of research.