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Effects of exoskeletal gait assistance on the recovery motion following tripping.

ABSTRACT: Physical assistant robots improve the user's ability to walk. However, they also potentially affect recovery motion following tripping. The assist algorithm should not interfere with the recovery motion, and should enhance the ability of the user to recover after tripping. Thus, in this study, we investigated the recovery motion affected by the assist robot after tripping. We compared the recovery motion with different reaction algorithms. Principal component analysis revealed the effects of the reaction algorithm. Correspondingly, principal components were related to the recovery motion during two steps following tripping. Specifically, the effects of the reaction algorithm were related to a principal component that represented the motion of the second step after tripping and that increased the margin of stability. Furthermore, the margin of stability became significantly large when the assistive torque was applied during the recovery motion. The result of this study suggests that the assist robot can potentially enhances the recovery motion of its user following tripping.

SUBMITTER: Akiyama Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7039667 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of exoskeletal gait assistance on the recovery motion following tripping.

Akiyama Yasuhiro Y Fukui Yusuke Y Okamoto Shogo S Yamada Yoji Y

PloS one 20200224 2

Physical assistant robots improve the user's ability to walk. However, they also potentially affect recovery motion following tripping. The assist algorithm should not interfere with the recovery motion, and should enhance the ability of the user to recover after tripping. Thus, in this study, we investigated the recovery motion affected by the assist robot after tripping. We compared the recovery motion with different reaction algorithms. Principal component analysis revealed the effects of the ...[more]

PMID: 32092091

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Project description:Balance recovery after tripping often requires an active adaptation of foot placement. Thus far, few attempts have been made to actively assist forward foot placement for balance recovery employing wearable devices. This study aims to explore the possibilities of active forward foot placement through two paradigms of actuation: assistive moments exerted with the reaction moments either internal or external to the human body, namely 'joint' moments and 'free' moments, respectively. Both paradigms can be applied to manipulate the motion of segments of the body (e.g., the shank or thigh), but joint actuators also exert opposing reaction moments on neighbouring body segments, altering posture and potentially inhibiting tripping recovery. We therefore hypothesised that a free moment paradigm is more effective in assisting balance recovery following tripping. The simulation software SCONE was used to simulate gait and tripping over various ground-fixed obstacles during the early swing phase. To aid forward foot placement, joint moments and free moments were applied either on the thigh to augment hip flexion or on the shank to augment knee extension. Two realizations of joint moments on the hip were simulated, with the reaction moment applied to either the pelvis or the contralateral thigh. The simulation results show that assisting hip flexion with either actuation paradigm on the thigh can result in full recovery of gait with a margin of stability and leg kinematics closely matching the unperturbed case. However, when assisting knee extension with moments on the shank, free moment effectively assist balance but joint moments with the reaction moment on the thigh do not. For joint moments assisting hip flexion, placement of the reaction moment on the contralateral thigh was more effective in achieving the desired limb dynamics than placing the reaction on the pelvis. Poor choice of placement of reaction moments may therefore have detrimental consequences for balance recovery, and removing them entirely (i.e., free moment) could be a more effective and reliable alternative. These results challenge conventional assumptions and may inform the design and development of a new generation of minimalistic wearable devices to promote balance during gait.

Project description:BackgroundThe spinal nerve ligation (SNL) rat is well known as the most common rodent model of neuropathic pain without motor deficit. Researchers have performed analyses using only the von Frey and thermal withdrawal tests to evaluate pain intensity in the rat experimental model. However, these test are completely different from the neurological examinations performed clinically. We think that several behavioral reactions must be observed following SNL because the patients with neuropathic pain usually have impaired coordination of the motions of the right-left limbs and right-left joint motion differences. In this study, we attempted to clarify the pain behavioral reactions in SNL rat model as in patients. We used the Kinema-Tracer system for 3D kinematics gait analysis to identify new characteristic parameters of each joint movement and gait pattern.ResultsThe effect of SNL on mechanical allodynia was a 47 ± 6.1% decrease in the withdrawal threshold during 1-8 weeks post-operation. Sagittal trajectories of the hip, knee and ankle markers in SNL rats showed a large sagittal fluctuation of each joint while walking. Top minus bottom height of the left hip and knee that represents instability during walking was significantly larger in the SNL than sham rats. Both-foot contact time, which is one of the gait characteristics, was significantly longer in the SNL versus sham rats: 1.9 ± 0.15 s vs. 1.03 ± 0.15 s at 4 weeks post-operation (p = 0.003). We also examined the circular phase time to evaluate coordination of the right and left hind-limbs. The ratio of the right/left circular time was 1.0 ± 0.08 in the sham rats and 0.62 ± 0.15 in the SNL rats at 4 weeks post-operation.ConclusionsWe revealed new quantitative parameters in an SNL rat model that are directly relevant to the neurological symptoms in patients with neuropathic pain, in whom the von Frey and thermal withdrawal tests are not used at all clinically. This new 3D analysis system can contribute to the analysis of pain intensity of SNL rats in detail similar to human patients' reactions following neuropathic pain.

Dataset Information

Effects of exoskeletal gait assistance on the recovery motion following tripping.

Publications

Effects of exoskeletal gait assistance on the recovery motion following tripping.

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