A novel Robotic Gait Training System (RGTS) may facilitate functional recovery after stroke: A feasibility and safety...

Robot-assisted gait training has been introduced as a practical treatment adjunctive to traditional stroke rehabilitation to provide high-intensity repetitive training. The design of robots is usually based on either the end-effector and exoskeleton method. The novel Robot Gait Training System (RGTS), a hybrid mixed type of end-effector and exoskeleton, tries to combine advantages from both methods.

This preliminary study was conducted to report whether this novel system is feasible and safe when applied to non-ambulatory subacute patients with stroke.

Six patients with stroke participated in this study and received 15 daily RGTS sessions. The outcome measures included the lower extremity subscale of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA-LE), Postural Assessment Scale for Stroke (PASS), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Barthel Index (BI). These measurements were performed at the pretest and posttest.

The RGTS demonstrated significant after-before changes in the FMA-LE, PASS, BBS and BI (p < 0.05), which indicated improvements substantially across the neurological status, balance, and activities of daily living after intervention.

This study demonstrated that the novel RGTS designed was practical, safe, and suitable to use in substantial leg dysfunction with stroke.