Voluntary driven exoskeleton as a new tool for rehabilitation in chronic spinal cord injury: a pilot study.

Background Context: Treadmill training after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) has become an established therapy to improve walking capabilities. The hybrid assistive limb (HAL) exoskeleton has been developed to support motor function and is tailored to the patients' voluntary drive.

Purpose: To determine whether locomotor training with the exoskeleton HAL is safe and can increase functional mobility in chronic paraplegic patients after SCI.