Balance During Bodyweight Supported and Robot-Assisted Walking

Robot-assisted gait rehabilitation improves gait- and balance related
outcome measures, but its merit over other gait rehabilitation methods is still
insufficiently proven. The trunk and pelvis are important to maintain balance
during gait. Despite, scarce research has been presented concerning the
importance of the trunk and the pelvis in different types of gait rehabilitation
methods. We investigated whether the amount of bodyweight support and the
amount of guidance force have an influence on the movements of the trunk and
the pelvis during robot-assisted walking (Lokomat-system). The results of this
study suggest that walking with the Lokomat-system leads to significant changes
in trunk and pelvis movements, which influence the training of the trunk balance
during robot-assisted walking. These results should be taken into account in the
development of gait rehabilitation robots and gait rehabilitation strategies.

ISBN:978-3-030-01886-3

Publication year:2018