The Interplay Between Walking Speed, Economy, and Stability After Stroke.

Background And Purpose: Energy minimization is thought to underlie the naturally selected, preferred walking speed; however, people post-stroke walk slower than their most economical speed, presumably to optimize other objectives, such as stability. The purpose of this study was to examine the interplay between walking speed, economy, and stability.

Methods: Seven individuals with chronic hemiparesis walked on a treadmill at 1 of 3 randomized speeds: slow, preferred, and fast.

Characterizing the performance of human leg external force control.

Our legs act as our primary contact with the surrounding environment, generating external forces that enable agile motion. To be agile, the nervous system has to control both the magnitude of the force that the feet apply to the ground and the point of application of this force. The purpose of this study was to characterize the performance of the healthy human neuromechanical system in controlling the force-magnitude and position of an externally applied force.

Estimating body segment parameters from three-dimensional human body scans.

Body segment parameters are inputs for a range of applications. Participant-specific estimates of body segment parameters are desirable as this requires fewer prior assumptions and can reduce outcome measurement errors. Commonly used methods for estimating participant-specific body segment parameters are either expensive and out of reach (medical imaging), have many underlying assumptions (geometrical modelling) or are based on a specific subset of a population (regression models).

Walking faster and farther with a soft robotic exosuit: Implications for post-stroke gait assistance and rehabilitation.

Objective: Soft robotic exosuits can improve the mechanics and energetics of walking after stroke. Building on this prior work, we evaluated the effects of the first prototype of a portable soft robotic exosuit.

Methods: Exosuit-induced changes in the overground walking speed, distance, and energy expenditure of individuals post-stroke were evaluated statistically with alpha set to 0.

Reducing Circumduction and Hip Hiking During Hemiparetic Walking Through Targeted Assistance of the Paretic Limb Using a Soft Robotic Exosuit.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects on common poststroke gait compensations of a soft wearable robot (exosuit) designed to assist the paretic limb during hemiparetic walking.

Design: A single-session study of eight individuals in the chronic phase of stroke recovery was conducted. Two testing conditions were compared: walking with the exosuit powered versus walking with the exosuit unpowered.

A soft robotic exosuit improves walking in patients after stroke.

Stroke-induced hemiparetic gait is characteristically slow and metabolically expensive. Passive assistive devices such as ankle-foot orthoses are often prescribed to increase function and independence after stroke; however, walking remains highly impaired despite-and perhaps because of-their use. We sought to determine whether a soft wearable robot (exosuit) designed to supplement the paretic limb's residual ability to generate both forward propulsion and ground clearance could facilitate more normal walking after stroke.