J.C. Ryu, S.-J. Kang, I.H. Moon, J.W. Ryu, K.H. Kim, and M.S. Mun (Korea)
Powered Gait Orthosis, Air muscle, pressure distribution
One of the main goals in the rehabilitation of SCI patients is to enable the patient to stand and walk themselves. We have developed high-thrust powered gait orthosis(PGO) using air muscle actuator(Shadow Rrobot Co., UK) to assist gait. From the experimental results, maximum hip flexion angle and angular velocity in the gait with RGO were 32.63.2 and 174.2/sec respectively, and pelvic rotation angle was 11.272.23. In the gait with PGO, maximum hip flexion angle and angular velocity were 35.42.1 and 30.82.5/sec respectively and pelvic rotation angle was 6.481.9. It was found that excessive pelvic rotation and hip flexion were reduced when using PGO and the gait with PGO becomes easier compared to the gait with an RGO. In the PGO gait, the movement of the COP is different from that the normal gait, however, the pressure distribution does not seem to affect the pressure ulcer and the deformation of the foot. Therefore, the proposed PGO can be a useful assitive device for the paraplegics to walk.
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