Body weight support gait

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review aims to provide insights into persistent taxane-induced peripheral neuropathy (TIPN). The primary objective is to describe the incidence, predictors, and consequences of TIPN lasting at least 1 year after the end of taxane treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Studies show varying rates of TIPN persistence, with an estimated 30-40% and 40-60% resolving by 1- and 3-year post-treatment. TIPN in the feet and motor symptoms show less resolution post-treatment...

The present case study reported a patient diagnosed with hypertrophic olivary degeneration, a rare condition characterized by a trans-neuronal degeneration and signal enhancement in T2-weighted images on magnetic resonance imaging, usually caused by cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, and trauma. Furthermore, the relevant literature review was performed. The existing pharmacological treatment has limited clinical benefits on the patient. Since spontaneous remission hardly occurs in the disease, there are no other effective treatments...

BACKGROUND: Early Mobilization in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) enhances patients' evolution, but has been rarely studied in neurological ICUs. The aim of this study was to assess gait training with body-weight support (BWS) in neuroICU, and to report on its safety, feasibility and on delays before walking with and without BWS. METHODS: This study was an observational one-year single-center study. Inclusion criteria were adults with a neurological injury requiring mechanical ventilation...

BACKGROUND: Stroke, which is a common clinical cerebrovascular disease, causes approximately 83% of survivors to suffer from balance impairments. Balance and gait training (BGT) is widely used to restore balance in patients with stroke. However, its wide variety presents clinicians with a dilemma when selecting interventions. This study aimed to compare and rank BGT interventions by quantifying information based on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS: We conducted a network meta-analysis (NMA) of non-gait-trained controls and head-to-head RCTs and compared the effects of 12 BGT interventions...

BACKGROUND: The intrinsic and extrinsic foot softtissue structures that apply force and support the medial longitudinal arch (MLA) have been implicated in the development of flat feet. However, the relationship between the changes in MLA height under increasing load and the morphological and mechanical properties of individual intrinsic and extrinsic foot soft tissue structures is not fully understood. RESEARCH QUESTION: To examine the morphological and mechanical characteristics of the foot soft tissue structures in flat feet when subjected to loading...

The Lokomat provides task-oriented therapy for patients with gait disorders. This robotic technology drives the lower limbs in the sagittal plane. However, normative gait also involves motions in the coronal and transverse planes. This study aimed to compare the Lokomat with Treadmill gait through three-dimensional (3D)-joint kinematics and inter-joint coordination. Lower limb kinematics was recorded in 18 healthy participants who walked at 3 km/h on a Treadmill or in a Lokomat with nine combinations of Guidance (30%, 50%, 70%) and bodyweight support (30%, 50%, 70%)...

Skeletal muscle atrophy is a frequent complication after spinal cord injury (SCI) and can influence the recovery of motor function and metabolism in affected patients. Delaying skeletal muscle atrophy can promote functional recovery in SCI rats. In the present study, we investigated whether a combination of body weight support treadmill training (BWSTT) and glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) could exert neuroprotective effects, promote motor function recovery, and delay skeletal muscle atrophy in rats with SCI, and we assessed the therapeutic effects of the double intervention from both a structural and functional viewpoint...

BACKGROUND: Walking aids such as walking frames offer support during walking, yet paradoxically, people who self-report using them remain more likely to fall than people who do not. Lifting of walking frames when crossing door thresholds or when turning has shown to reduce stability, and certain design features drive the need to lift (e.g. small, non-swivelling wheels at the front). To overcome shortfalls in design and provide better stability, biomechanists and industrial engineers engaged in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership to develop a novel walking frame that reduces the need for lifting during everyday tasks...

Gait impairments is a common condition in post-stroke subjects. We recently presented a wearable ankle exoskeleton called G-Exos, which showed that the device assisted in the ankle's dorsiflexion and inversion/reversion movements. The aim of the current pilot study was to explore spatiotemporal gait parameters and center of pressure trajectories associated with the use of the G-Exos in stroke participants. Three post-stroke subjects (52-63 years, 2 female/1 male) walked 160-meter using the G-Exos on the affected limb, on a protocol divided into 4 blocks of 40-meters: (I) without the exoskeleton, (II) with systems hybrid system, (III) active only and (IV) passive only...

To exploit the benefits of treadmill-based exoskeletons, it is crucial to assess possible deviations from natural walking depending on assistive parameters. This study evaluated the biomechanics of exoskeleton-assisted treadmill walking by comparing it with free gait. Five healthy participants walked freely on a treadmill and with the assistance of the Lokomat gait trainer, while changing Body Weight Support (BWS), Gait Speed (GS), and Guidance Force (GF). Results showed that the hip and knee joint kinematics depended on BWS and GS, while changes due to GF were limited...

UNLABELLED: Kikkawa T, Takashima A. Practice of gait training using lower-limb orthosis and body weight-supported walker for severe acute motor axonal neuropathy: a case report. Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 2023; 14: 49-53. INTRODUCTION: Acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN) requires aggressive gait rehabilitation from the early phase of its onset due to the long time required to achieve independent gait. In this report, we describe the progress of gait training using a combination of lower-limb orthosis and body weight-supported (BWS) walker in a patient with severe AMAN...

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition affecting an individual's life, particularly through lower extremity paralysis, which limits walking and daily activities. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the effects of weight support feedback walker (WSFW) gait training on walker dependence, lower limb muscle activation, and gait ability in patients with incomplete SCI (ISCI). METHODS: Eleven subjects capable of walking > 20 m with and without a walker were randomly assigned to WSFW gait training (n = 6) or conventional walker (CW) gait training groups (n = 5)...

Gait rehabilitation commonly relies on bodyweight unloading mechanisms, such as overhead mechanical support and underwater buoyancy. Lightweight and wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors provide a cost-effective tool for quantifying body segment motions without the need for video recordings or ground reaction force measures. Identifying the instant when the foot contacts and leaves the ground from IMU data can be challenging, often requiring scrupulous parameter selection and researcher supervision...

BACKGROUND: Walking impairments are a common consequence of neurological disorders and are assessed with clinical scores that suffer from several limitations. Robot-assisted locomotor training is becoming an established clinical practice. Besides training, these devices could be used for assessing walking ability in a controlled environment. Here, we propose an adaptive assist-as-needed (AAN) control for a treadmill-based robotic exoskeleton, the Lokomat, that reduces the support of the device (body weight support and impedance of the robotic joints) based on the ability of the patient to follow a gait pattern displayed on screen...

The treatment of patients with balance disorders is an urgent problem to be solved by the medical community. The causes of balance disorders are diverse. An aging population, traffic accidents, stroke, genetic diseases and so on are all possible factors. It has brought great pain and inconvenience to patients and their families. At present, there are two main types of assisted rehabilitation training robots for patients with balance disorders: exoskeleton robots and end robots. The exoskeleton robot is generally installed on the outside of the patient's body to follow their movement, which can support the weight of the body and provide power support to help the patient train and recover lower limb ability...

OBJECTIVE: To compare, rank and evaluate the 24 exercise types that improve postural instability in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: We searched the data in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane library, and Web of Science from their inception date to January 23, 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that aimed at determining the effectiveness of physical activity interventions on postural instability in adults with PD. This review focused on different balance outcome categories: (a) balance test batteries (BBS); (b) static steady-state balance (sSSB); (c) dynamic steady-state balance (dSSB); (d) proactive balance (PB); (e) reactive balance (RB)...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and non-motor alterations. Typical motor symptoms include resting tremors, bradykinesia (hypokinesia or akinesia), muscular stiffness, gait alterations, and postural instability. In this context, neurorehabilitation may have a pivotal role in slowing the progression of PD, using both conventional and innovative rehabilitation approaches. Thirty patients (15 males and 15 females) affected by PD were enrolled in our study. We randomly divided the patients into two groups, an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG)...

Patients with tibial fractures are usually advised to follow a partial weight-bearing gait rehabilitation program after surgery to promote bone healing and lower limb functional recovery. Currently, the biofeedback devices used for gait rehabilitation training in fracture patients use ground reaction force (GRF) as the indicator of tibial load. However, an increasing body of research has shown that monitoring GRF alone cannot objectively reflect the load on the lower limb bones during human movement. In this study, a novel biofeedback system was developed utilizing inertial measurement units and custom instrumented insoles...

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study are to systematically evaluate the effect of body weight support training on lower extremity motor function(s) in patients with spinal cord injury and to compare the effect differences among three body weight support training methods. DESIGN: PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, CBM, China Scientific Journal, and Wan Fang databases were searched until December 31, 2022. Meta-analysis and network meta-analysis were conducted using RevMan 5...

BACKGROUND: Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder affecting multiple functional parameters. This study examined postural stability and associated gait and neuromuscular factors in young adults with PWS. METHODS: Participants included 10 adults with PWS [7 M/3F; Body Fat % 40.61 ± 7.79]; ten normal weight (NW) adults [7 M/3F; Body Fat % 23.42 ± 7.0]; ten obese (OB) adults [7 M/3F; Body Fat % 42...