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Robot-assisted modifications of gait in healthy individuals

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An Erratum to this article was published on 10 April 2010

Abstract

This study investigated whether short-term modifications of gait could be induced in healthy adults and whether a combination of kinetic (a compliant force resisting deviation of the foot from the prescribed footpath) and visual guidance was superior to either kinetic guidance or visual guidance alone in producing this modification. Thirty-nine healthy adults, 20–33 years old, were randomly assigned to the three groups receiving six 10-min blocks of treadmill training requiring them to modify their footpath to match a scaled-down path. Changes of the footpath, specific joint events and joint moments were analyzed. Persons receiving combined kinetic and visual guidance showed larger modifications of their gait patterns that were maintained longer, persisting up to 2 h after intervening over-ground activities, than did persons receiving training with primarily kinetic guidance or with visual guidance alone. The results emphasize the short-term plasticity of locomotor circuits and provide a possible basis for persons learning to achieve more functional gait patterns following a stroke or other neurological disorders.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research, Grant HD38582 for support of this work. The authors also acknowledge the earlier assistance of Dr. Wei-Li Hsu, National Taiwan University, on the initial pilot experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Seok Hun Kim

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Sai K. Banala, Elizabeth A. Brackbill & Sunil K. Agrawal

  3. Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Vijaya Krishnamoorthy

  4. Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, 307 McKinly Laboratory, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    John P. Scholz

  5. Biomechanics and Movement Science Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    John P. Scholz

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  1. Seok Hun Kim
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  2. Sai K. Banala
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  3. Elizabeth A. Brackbill
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  4. Sunil K. Agrawal
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  5. Vijaya Krishnamoorthy
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  6. John P. Scholz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to John P. Scholz.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2238-y

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Kim, S.H., Banala, S.K., Brackbill, E.A. et al. Robot-assisted modifications of gait in healthy individuals. Exp Brain Res 202, 809–824 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2187-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-010-2187-5

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