Abstract
Transfemoral amputees (TFAs) require higher energy expenditure than able-bodied individuals during walking. In this study we examined the effects on one TFA of training for a month with a portable bilateral hip exoskeleton on (i) energy cost of transport (CoT) and (ii) distance covered during a 6-minute walking test (6mWT), assessed without (NoExo) and with (Exo) the exoskeleton. Results showed that in NoExo the CoT was reduced by 13.4% after the training, while the 6mWT distance increased by 20.3%. However, the CoT increased in Exo compared to NoExo both before (24.8%) and after (11.8%) the training. These results provide initial evidence that robot-mediated training should deserve further exploration as a tool for improving walking efficiency of TFAs. Future research will investigate customized tuning procedures more in depth to maximize the beneficial effects of this approach.
Research supported by the European Commission under the CYBERLEGs Plus Plus project (grant n°731931), within the H2020 framework (H2020-ICT-25-2016-2017).
Part of the IP covering the technology presented in this paper has been exclusively licensed to IUVO for commercial exploitation.
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Sanz-Morère, C.B. et al. (2022). Energy Cost of Transport in Overground Walking of a Transfemoral Amputee Following One Month of Robot-Mediated Training. In: Moreno, J.C., Masood, J., Schneider, U., Maufroy, C., Pons, J.L. (eds) Wearable Robotics: Challenges and Trends. WeRob 2020. Biosystems & Biorobotics, vol 27. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69547-7_41
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69547-7_41
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