A perspective on the use of error augmentation in robot-assisted gait training of strokesurvivors

Abstract

Robot-Assisted Gait Training (RAGT) has gathered significant attention in the past years, nevertheless the results of its application on the stroke population are inconsistent. One of the reasons behind the mixed success of RAGT is believed to be its failure in promoting active participation from the patients. Herein is discussed the potential use of the Error Augmentation paradigm to RAGT. Error Augmentation is a training paradigm which utilize perturbations to amplify biomechanical errors (or their associated feedback). The augmented error leads to the generation of a motor adaptation that compensates the perturbation and, once the perturbation is removed, reduces the original error. So far the Error Augmentation paradigm has been applied to gait rehabilitation only in the split-belt treadmill paradigm, where it is used to induce compensation for altered step symmetry. The application of such paradigm to RAGT, although technically challenging, has the potential of increasing the gait parameters that can be targeted in a training modality that, by design, is highly patient-specific and demands the active participation of the patients during the therapy sessions.