J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2004 Apr;28(2):182-187.

Electromechanical Gait Trainer for Gait Rehabilitation for Patients with Stroke

• Park SW
• Choi YN
• Wee HM
• Jang SJ
• Kim HI
• Kim YH

Abstract

We developed an electromechanical gait trainer for rehabilitation of the persons with disabilities, which was designed to simulate normal gait with partial body weight support. The purpose of this study was to apply it to stroke patients and to evaluate its usability. Four nonambulatory stroke patients had 20 sessions of gait training with newly developed gait trainer for 5 to 6 weeks. Knee and ankle joint angles were measured by electrogoniometer during training. Main outcome was assessed by functional ambu lation category (level 0~5). Knee and ankle joint angles during exercise in the gait trainer showed repetitive pattern of gait-like movement similar to normal gait, though it was variable among the subjects. Functional ambulation category levels after training were 2 in 3 patients and 1 in 1 patient. The electromechanical gait trainer was a useful device for gait retraining in stroke patients with severe neurologic impairments.

Keyword

Gait trainer; Rehabilitation; Stroke

MeSH Terms

Ankle Joint
Body Weight
Disabled Persons
Gait*
Humans
Knee
Rehabilitation*
Stroke*
Walking