A Study on Simultaneous Use of a Robotic Walker and a Pneumatic Walking Assist Device Designed for PD Patients

TL;DR

This study explores the combined use of a robotic walker and pneumatic assist device to improve gait stability and reduce freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease patients, showing promising results in gait enhancement.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system that synchronizes a robotic walker with a pneumatic assist device to improve gait in PD patients, demonstrating its effectiveness in a controlled test.

Findings

Increased stride length during combined device use

Reduced stance phase duration with combined devices

Potential to decrease freezing of gait in PD patients

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease that affects motor and non-motor symptoms. Postural instability and freezing of gait (FOG) are considered motor symptoms of PD resulting in falling. In this study, we investigated the effect of simultaneous use of a robotic walker and a pneumatic walking assist device (PWAD) for PD patients on gait features. The pneumatic actuated artificial muscle on the leg and actuators on the walker produce mutual induced stimulation, allowing the user to suppress FOG and maintain a stable gait pattern while walking. The performance of the proposed system was evaluated by conducting an 8 [m] straight-line walking task by a healthy subject with (a) RW (robotic walker), (b) simultaneous use of an RW and a PWAD, and some gait features for each condition were analyzed. The increasing stride length and decreasing stance phase duration in the gait cycle suggest that simultaneous use of a robotic walker and a pneumatic walking assist device would effectively decrease FOG and maintain a stable gait pattern for PD patients.