# Effects of Passive Hip Flexion and Extension Assistance in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease and Healthy Individuals

## TL;DR

A study found that elastic hip assistance using an exosuit can reduce hip strain in both healthy people and those with peripheral artery disease, with different benefits observed in each group.

## Contribution

The study introduces how passive hip assistance via an exosuit can be tailored to address specific impairments in patients with peripheral artery disease.

## Key findings

- Passive hip assistance reduced hip kinetics in both healthy and PAD participants.
- Patients with PAD used the exosuit to reduce plantarflexion kinetics and gastrocnemius activity.
- Exosuit effects varied between healthy individuals and PAD patients, suggesting population-specific optimization.

## Abstract

What are the main findings?
Elastic hip assistance can reduce biological hip moment and power in both healthy participants and patients with peripheral artery disease.Patients with peripheral artery disease can leverage an exosuit to help with their affected gastrocnemius.

Elastic hip assistance can reduce biological hip moment and power in both healthy participants and patients with peripheral artery disease.

Patients with peripheral artery disease can leverage an exosuit to help with their affected gastrocnemius.

What is the implication of the main finding?
The responses to an exosuit can be different between populations, possibly because they adapt their walking to receive assistance at the most impaired joint.Exosuit assistance may need to be optimized specifically for each clinical population for which it is intended because the effects may be different from those in healthy individuals.

The responses to an exosuit can be different between populations, possibly because they adapt their walking to receive assistance at the most impaired joint.

Exosuit assistance may need to be optimized specifically for each clinical population for which it is intended because the effects may be different from those in healthy individuals.

(1) Background: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) and related conditions significantly impair walking ability. Previous studies demonstrated that passive lightweight exosuits can improve walking biomechanics. However, most of these devices focus on assisting hip flexion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of flexion and extension assistance on joint kinetics and muscle activation. We hypothesized that there would be an optimal combination of flexion and extension assistance for measured parameters. (2) Methods: Four patients with PAD and six healthy individuals walked on a treadmill while wearing a passive exosuit with adjustable hip flexion and extension assistance. Lower limbs’ power, moment, and muscle activation were recorded. (3) Results: We found that passive hip assistance effectively reduced hip kinetics in both healthy and PAD participants. We also found different effects between the groups, with the PAD group utilizing the exosuit to reduce plantarflexion kinetics and gastrocnemius activity. (4) Conclusions: These findings suggest that patients with PAD can leverage the exosuit to ameliorate impairment-specific deficits. Future research should explore more real-world applicability of passive exosuits.