Articleartificial gait in complete spinal cord injured subjects: How to assess clinical performance

Abstract

Objective: Adapt the 6 minutes walking test (6MWT) to artificial gait in complete spinal cord injured (SCI) patients aided by neuromuscular electrical stimulation. Method: Nine male individuals with paraplegia (AIS A) participated in this study. Lesion levels varied between T4 and T12 and time post injured from 4 to 13 years. Patients performed 6MWT 1 and 6MWT 2. They used neuromuscular electrical stimulation, and were aided by a walker. The differences between two 6MWT were assessed by using a paired t test. Multiple r-squared was also calculated. Results: The 6MWT 1 and 6MWT 2 were not statistically different for heart rate, distance, mean speed and blood pressure. Multiple r-squared (r2 = 0.96) explained 96% of the variation in the distance walked. Conclusion: The use of 6MWT in artificial gait towards assessing exercise walking capacity is reproducible and easy to apply. It can be used to assess SCI artificial gait clinical performance.