Citation

Ueno T, Watanabe H, Kawamoto H, Shimizu Y, Endo A, Shimizu T, Ishikawa K, Kadone H, Ohto T, Kamada H, Marushima A, Hada Y, Muroi A, Sankai Y, Ishikawa E, Matsumura A, Yamazaki M. J. Clin. Neurosci. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jocn.2019.07.026

PMID

31337581

Abstract

To investigate whether Robot Suit HAL treatment (HAL-T) is safe and feasible for gait disorders in adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy (CP). We tested HAL-T in adolescents and adults with bilateral spastic CP (four men, four women; mean age: 18.2 years). Three participants were classified as level III under the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), and five were classified as level IV. The participants underwent HAL-T twice per week for 4 weeks. The outcome measures, which were assessed before and after HAL-T, included comfortable gait speed (CGS), step length (SL), cadence, and GMFCS level. Adverse events were noted. All participants completed the HAL-T sessions despite some mild adverse events occurring. The mean increases in CGS, SL, and cadence were 0.19 ± 0.14 m/s (p = 0.006), 0.09 ± 0.08 m (p = 0.020), and 18.0 ± 15.9 steps/min (p = 0.015), respectively. HAL-T is safe and feasible for gait disorders in patients with CP. HAL-T can significantly improve CGS, SL, and cadence and may be effective for improving walking ability in adolescents and adults with CP.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Cerebral palsy; Gait disorders; Robot-assisted gait therapy