Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Three
Development of Gait-Assisted Robot
WPAL (Wearable Power-Assist
Locomotor) for Paraplegia
Toru Suzuki
∗
and Eiichi Saitoh
†
∗
Faculty of Rehabilitation, School of Health Sciences,
Fujita Health University, Aichi, Japan
†
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine,
Fujita Health University, Aichi, Japan
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Patients with complete paraplegia, the main etiology of which is spinal cord injury,
are unable to stand or walk and are forced to depend solely on a wheelchair.
Restoration of gait in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) has several advan-
tages. Life in a wheelchair is likely to result in a variety of medical problems such
as osteoporosis, contracture, constipation, and obesity (Kunkel, (1993); Kaplan,
(1978); Messenger, (1989)). From the psychological viewpoint, advantages such as
increased self-esteem through standing and being at eye level with others as well
as through walking, even if only a little, can not be neglected (Cybulski, (1986);
Stallard, (1989)). It is a matter of fact that most paraplegic patients want to walk
on their own legs (Subbarao, (1991)).
To restore gait in patients with SCI, orthoses are available until today. Today,
with advance in robotic technology, gait reconstruction for SCI changes to new
frontiers. In this chapter, we overview gait reconstruction with orthosis, and
introduce our newly robot for SCI.
3.2 OVERVIEW OF GAIT RECONSTRUCTION OF SCI WITH
ORTHOSES
Orthoses are classified as the bilateral external joint type and the medial single hip
joint type according to the position of the orthotic hip joint.
