Open AccessCOMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF ROBOT-INTERACTIVE GAIT TRAINING WITH AND WITHOUT ANKLE ROBOTIC CONTROL IN PATIENTS WITH BRAIN DAMAGE
Author(s) -
Chanhee Park,
Jongseok Hwang,
Joshua H. You
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of mechanics in medicine and biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.236
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1793-6810
pISSN - 0219-5194
DOI - 10.1142/s0219519421400352
Subject(s) - ankle , physical medicine and rehabilitation , electromyography , kinematics , neurophysiology , medicine , motor control , rehabilitation , gait , stroke (engine) , physical therapy , surgery , engineering , physics , classical mechanics , psychiatry , mechanical engineering
Although ankle robotic control has emerged as a critical component of robot-interactive gait training (RIGT), no study has investigated the neurophysiological and biomechanical effects on ankle muscle activity and joint angle kinematics in healthy adults and participants with brain damage, including stroke and cerebral palsy (CP). This study compared the effects of RIGT, with and without ankle control actuator, on ankle muscle activity and joint angle kinematics in healthy adults and participants with brain damage. Ten patients ([Formula: see text], left hemiparetic [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) underwent standardized surface electromyography (EMG) neurophysiological and kinematics biomechanical tests under the RIGT with and without ankle control actuator conditions. Outcome measures included the EMG amplitudes of the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscle activity, and ankle movement angles recorded with a two-axis digital inclinometer. Descriptive statistical analysis demonstrated that RIGT with ankle control actuator showed superior effects on EMG (30%) and kinematics angles (25%) than RIGT without ankle control actuator. Our results provided novel, promising clinical evidence that RIGT with ankle control actuator can more effectively improve the neurophysiological EMG data and ankle dorsiflexion and plantarflexion movements than RIGT without ankle control actuator in participants with stroke and CP.