Neuroprosthetic device for functional training, compensation or rehabilitation of lower limbs during gait

Abstract

One of the most promising alternatives to train, compensate or rehabilitate patients after cerebrovascular accidents, spinal cord injuries, head trauma and physiological pathological tremors causing gait disorders are the motor neuroprosthestic devices (NP). However, there are not portable and flexible NP devices capable of fulfilling the requirements of different rehabilitation scenarios. In this work, the novel and flexible H-GAIT NP for lower limbs training and compensation is presented. This NP is able to detect four subphases of gait cycle and provide configurable surface stimulation patterns at each subphase. The H-GAIT NP can stimulate 4 independent channels for each subphase, allowing to reproduce diverse muscle activation patterns that can be needed in different rehabilitation scenarios. In order to validate the concept, several tests were carried on with 5 neuromuscularly intact participants and three different gait speeds in order to validate detection of the subphases. The algorithm showed an acceptable performance (over 95 % of gait subphases successfully detected in all cases at three different gait speeds (0.7, 0.85, and 0.97 m/s). The results were consistent among participants. To show the potential use of the NP in different rehabilitation scenarios, one stimulation profile was configured for hemiplegic gait compensation.