Citation

Jung C, Kim DY, Kwon S, Chun MH, Kim JY, Kim SH. Brain Neurorehabil. 2020; 13(3): e23.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Korean Society for Neurorehabilitation)

DOI

10.12786/bn.2020.13.e23

PMID

36741796

PMCID

PMC9879369

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate walking ability and balance improvement of patients with ataxia caused by brain lesions after end-effector type robot (Morning Walk(®))-assisted gait training. This study randomly assigned 19 patients to one of two groups: 30 minutes of Morning Walk(®) training with 1 hour of conventional physiotherapy (Morning Walk(®) group; n = 10) or 1.5 hours of conventional physiotherapy (Control group; n = 9). Five treatment sessions per week were given for 3 weeks. The primary outcomes were walking ability and balance, which were assessed by the functional ambulation category (FAC) and Berg Balance Scale (BBS), respectively. The secondary outcomes included 10-meter Walk Test (10mWT), Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI), Motricity Index (MI), and Modified Barthel Index (MBI). At baseline, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups except MBI. After the treatment, the Morning Walk(®) group showed significant improvement in the FAC, BBS, 10mWT, RMI and MBI. The control group showed significant improvement in the BBS, 10mWT, RMI and MBI. Inter-group comparison demonstrated that the ∆FAC, ∆10mWT and ∆RMI of the Morning Walk(®) group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Our results suggest that the patients with ataxia receiving Morning Walk(®)-assisted gait training might improve greater in walking ability and balance than those trained with conventional physiotherapy.

Language: en

Keywords

Ataxia; Gait; Neurologic Rehabilitation; Postural Balance; Robotics