Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking
Exoskeleton assistance can reduce metabolic cost and increase preferred walking speed in unimpaired and impaired groups, but individual outcomes are highly variable. Assistance may influence step regulation, leading to individual modulation of gait variability, energetic cost, and balance control. I...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2023-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9970378/ |
| _version_ | 1827927005845258240 |
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| author | Santiago Canete Elizabeth B. Wilson Daniel A. Jacobs |
| author_facet | Santiago Canete Elizabeth B. Wilson Daniel A. Jacobs |
| author_sort | Santiago Canete |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Exoskeleton assistance can reduce metabolic cost and increase preferred walking speed in unimpaired and impaired groups, but individual outcomes are highly variable. Assistance may influence step regulation, leading to individual modulation of gait variability, energetic cost, and balance control. In this study, we aimed to understand the effects of a powered ankle exoskeleton on step regulation and its relationship to self-selected walking speed, cost of transport, and gait variability. We asked 12 unimpaired young adults to walk at their comfortable walking speed on a self-paced treadmill in their regular shoes, with the exoskeleton tracking zero torque, and in two trials using proportional myoelectric control. We measured preferred walking speed, cost of transport (COT), mean and standard deviation of gait parameters, (step length, step time, and step width) and computed long-term correlations via detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). In all exoskeleton trials, subjects walked significantly slower than in their shoes. However, the COT was equivalent between shoes and both proportional myoelectric control trials. Subjects also increased medio-lateral balance control by increasing their mean step width and reducing both short-term variability and long-term auto-correlation for this parameter. In the second powered trial subjects returned to the levels of control over step width exhibited during regular shoe walking. During the unpowered condition subjects showed a significant association between step width regulation, walking speed, and COT. However, these parameters were not significantly associated when the assistance was turned on. Together, these results demonstrate that the response to assistance is closely related to the stepping strategy, especially in the initial stages of learning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:45:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80a8d06570b94c14a127a0548f193d97 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1558-0210 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T05:45:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-80a8d06570b94c14a127a0548f193d972023-06-13T20:10:09ZengIEEEIEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering1558-02102023-01-013147448310.1109/TNSRE.2022.32267669970378Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced WalkingSantiago Canete0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5916-1958Elizabeth B. Wilson1Daniel A. Jacobs2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1745-2260Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USADepartment of Bioengineering, Graduate School, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USAExoskeleton assistance can reduce metabolic cost and increase preferred walking speed in unimpaired and impaired groups, but individual outcomes are highly variable. Assistance may influence step regulation, leading to individual modulation of gait variability, energetic cost, and balance control. In this study, we aimed to understand the effects of a powered ankle exoskeleton on step regulation and its relationship to self-selected walking speed, cost of transport, and gait variability. We asked 12 unimpaired young adults to walk at their comfortable walking speed on a self-paced treadmill in their regular shoes, with the exoskeleton tracking zero torque, and in two trials using proportional myoelectric control. We measured preferred walking speed, cost of transport (COT), mean and standard deviation of gait parameters, (step length, step time, and step width) and computed long-term correlations via detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). In all exoskeleton trials, subjects walked significantly slower than in their shoes. However, the COT was equivalent between shoes and both proportional myoelectric control trials. Subjects also increased medio-lateral balance control by increasing their mean step width and reducing both short-term variability and long-term auto-correlation for this parameter. In the second powered trial subjects returned to the levels of control over step width exhibited during regular shoe walking. During the unpowered condition subjects showed a significant association between step width regulation, walking speed, and COT. However, these parameters were not significantly associated when the assistance was turned on. Together, these results demonstrate that the response to assistance is closely related to the stepping strategy, especially in the initial stages of learning.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9970378/Exoskeletonwalking speedself-paced treadmillcost of transportstep regulation |
| spellingShingle | Santiago Canete Elizabeth B. Wilson Daniel A. Jacobs Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering Exoskeleton walking speed self-paced treadmill cost of transport step regulation |
| title | Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking |
| title_full | Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking |
| title_fullStr | Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking |
| title_short | Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Can Affect Step Regulation During Self-Paced Walking |
| title_sort | ankle exoskeleton assistance can affect step regulation during self paced walking |
| topic | Exoskeleton walking speed self-paced treadmill cost of transport step regulation |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9970378/ |
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