Browse the latest research summaries in the field of assistive technology for spinal cord injury patients and caregivers.
Showing 371-380 of 581 results
Frontiers in Physiology, 2016 • December 9, 2016
This study investigated the effects of passive robotic leg exercise (PE) and functional electrical stimulation (FES) on cardiovascular parameters during head-up tilt in healthy subjects. The findings ...
KEY FINDING: Head-up tilt alone increases heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, but not systolic blood pressure.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil., 2015 • December 1, 2015
This study provides empirical support for the measures included as part of the power wheelchair outcomes toolkit. They appear to provide complementary information on a variety of constructs related to...
KEY FINDING: Wheelchair confidence was independently associated with less difficulty with activity and participation, increased life space and greater wheelchair skills.
Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, 2015 • September 4, 2015
This systematic review examined the use of powered robotic exoskeletons to improve gait speed in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). The review found that powered exoskeletons can enable non-am...
KEY FINDING: The mean gait speed attained by non-ambulatory participants while wearing a powered exoskeleton was 0.26 m/s, with the majority having a thoracic-level motor-complete injury.
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2015 • November 12, 2015
This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of home-based supported standing programs for adults with neurological conditions, focusing on outcomes related to body structure and function, activ...
KEY FINDING: Home-based supported standing programs have a stronger impact on range of motion and activity for individuals with stroke or spinal cord injury.
The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2016 • January 1, 2016
The study investigated the provision, use, and unmet need of assistive devices for personal mobility in the Swiss population with SCI, revealing that device provision is highly dependent on age and SC...
KEY FINDING: Adapted cars (78.2%) and manual wheelchairs (69.9%) were the most commonly provided devices.
PLoS ONE, 2015 • December 16, 2015
This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of using EEG-based BCI to control robot-assisted gait devices by decoding walking intention during robot-assisted gait training in healthy volunteers an...
KEY FINDING: Classification accuracies when distinguishing walking from baseline were high, both in healthy participants (above 93%) and stroke patients (above 89%), indicating the feasibility of BCI-based robotic-assisted training devices.
BMC Neurology, 2016 • January 20, 2016
This study investigates the use of the EKSO™ robotic exoskeleton to enhance mobility in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Three participants underwent a 20-session training program, and their...
KEY FINDING: Robot training is a feasible and acceptable rehabilitation method for people with SCI.
Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 2016 • January 1, 2016
This study investigated the immediate effects of interactive virtual feedback on motor imagery performance in individuals with SCI. Participants performed forward and backward gait imagery with intera...
KEY FINDING: Interactive virtual feedback significantly improved motor imagery vividness and speed compared to static feedback.
BioMed Research International, 2016 • December 21, 2016
This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) combined with conventional therapy (CT) on upper limb (UL) function in individuals with tetraplegia. The study found that VR add...
KEY FINDING: Virtual reality added to conventional therapy produces similar results in upper limb function compared to only conventional therapy.
The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine, 2019 • May 1, 2019
This study investigated the effect of gait treatment using the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) on individuals with acute spinal cord infarction (SCI). Two patients with incomplete paraplegia participated ...
KEY FINDING: Both participants showed improvements in Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS), Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury (WISCI II), comfortable gait speed (CGS), stride, cadence, Barthel Index (BI), Functional Independence Measure (FIM), modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and joint angles after HAL treatment.