A Novel Scheme for Speed Variation of a Robotic Cane to Improve Step Length Symmetry during Overground Walking

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Abstract

Gait symmetry is a vital index for improving and evaluating the walking ability of patients with hemiplegia. This is not only related to walking balance but also increases unnecessary energy consumption, causing serious damage to the musculoskeletal system. The restoration of step length symmetry (SLS) is one of the gait parameters targeted for rehabilitation and can be easily accessed and manipulated in the clinic. Therefore, we proposed a novel scheme based on a speed variation method (SVM) using a robotic haptic cane (HC) to improve SLS on overground walking. To evaluate the proposed method and check protocols for a patient study, we conducted an experiment to lengthen the left step length of 24 healthy young participants using positive, negative, and positive & negative SVM. Additionally, we examined its feasibility in one stroke patient. As a result of the healthy subjects’ experiment, walking speed and the left step length ratio significantly increased with positive and positive & negative SVM while maintaining walking balance. Results from the patient pilot test were similar to those of the healthy subjects, with improved gait balance. However, swing phase symmetry (SWS) also improved. Furthermore, the patient was sensitive to the baseline HC speed and Negative SVM. In the future, we plan to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method through experiments with stroke patients and explore the relationship between walking speed and the ratio of positive & negative SVM.

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