Soft robotic exosuit augmented high intensity gait training on stroke survivors: a pilot study

Abstract

Abstract Background Stroke is a leading cause of serious gait impairments and restoring walking ability is a major goal of physical therapy interventions. Soft robotic exosuits are portable, lightweight, and unobtrusive assistive devices designed to improve the mobility of post-stroke individuals through facilitation of more natural paretic limb function during walking training. However, it is unknown whether long-term gait training using soft robotic exosuits will clinically impact gait function and quality of movement post-stroke. Objective The objective of this pilot study was to examine the therapeutic effects of soft robotic exosuit-augmented gait training on clinical and biomechanical gait outcomes in chronic post-stroke individuals. Methods Five post-stroke individuals received high intensity gait training augmented with a soft robotic exosuit, delivered in 18 sessions over 6–8 weeks. Performance based clinical outcomes and biomechanical gait quality parameters were measured at baseline, midpoint, and completion. Results Clinically meaningful improvements were observed in walking speed ($$p$$ p  < 0.05) and endurance ($$p$$ p  < 0.01) together with other traditional gait related outcomes. The gait quality measures including hip ($$p$$ p  < 0.01) and knee ($$p$$ p  < 0.05) flexion/extension exhibited an increase in range of motion in a symmetric manner ($$p$$ p  < 0.05). We also observed an increase in bilateral ankle angular velocities ($$p$$ p  < 0.05), suggesting biomechanical improvements in walking function. Conclusions The results in this study offer preliminary evidence that a soft robotic exosuit can be a useful tool to augment high intensity gait training in a clinical setting. This study justifies more expanded research on soft exosuit technology with a larger post-stroke population for more reliable generalization. Trial registration This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT04251091)