Soft robotic exosuit augmented high intensity gait training on stroke survivors: a pilot study

Abstract

Background: Stroke is a leading cause of serious gait impairments and restoring walking ability is a major goal of physical therapy interventions. Soft robotic exosuits are portable, lightweight, and unobtrusive assistive devices designed to improve the mobility of post-stroke individuals through facilitation of more natural paretic limb function during walking training. However, it is unknown whether long-term gait training using soft robotic exosuits will clinically impact gait function and quality of movement post-stroke. Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to examine the therapeutic effects of soft robotic exosuit-augmented gait training on clinical and biomechanical gait outcomes in chronic post-stroke individuals. Methods: Five post-stroke individuals received high intensity gait training augmented with a soft robotic exosuit, delivered in 18 sessions over 6–8 weeks. Performance based clinical outcomes and biomechanical gait quality parameters were measured at baseline, midpoint, and completion. Results: Clinically meaningful improvements were observed in walking speed (p < 0.05) and endurance (p < 0.01) together with other traditional gait related outcomes. The gait quality measures including hip (p < 0.01) and knee (p < 0.05) flexion/extension exhibited an increase in range of motion in a symmetric manner (p < 0.05). We also observed an increase in bilateral ankle angular velocities (p < 0.05), suggesting biomechanical improvements in walking function. Conclusions: The results in this study offer preliminary evidence that a soft robotic exosuit can be a useful tool to augment high intensity gait training in a clinical setting. This study justifies more expanded research on soft exosuit technology with a larger post-stroke population for more reliable generalization. Trial registration This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04251091).