| Summary: | In order to improve the activities of daily living effectively, patients with gait problems need to decrease the loads which they apply on handrails of support devices, and also need to use support devices that don't restrict their activities as much as possible. It is essential for the patients to recognize to what extent they apply loads on handrails while they work on gait training because the goal is to decrease those loads. The purpose of this study is to develop a system for helping the patients decrease the loads on handrails, and to ensure the effect of the developed system through ten-meter walking test. The developed system consists of a load measurement unit on handrails and a visual feedback unit. For supporting the patients with severe gait problems, a relief unit is also developed and attached to the system. Ten-meter walking test was performed with three patients with gait problems in order to get fundamental knowledge of the effect of the system. As a result, all of the patients were able to decrease the loads with the help of the developed system. Moreover, after completion of the walking test with the system, all of the patients were able to maintain the decreased loads on handrails during ten-meter walking test although they didn't receive the visual feedback from the system. These results suggest that the developed system has the immediate and longitudinal effects for helping the patients decrease loads on handrails.
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