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Energy cost and psychological impact of robotic-assisted gait training in people with spinal cord injury: effect of two different types of devices

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Abstract

Background

In the last years, there has been an intense technological development of robotic devices for gait rehabilitation in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate energy cost and psychological impact during a rehabilitation program with two different types of robotic rehabilitation systems (stationary system on a treadmill, Lokomat, and overground walking system, Ekso GT).

Methods

Fifteen SCI patients with different injury levels underwent robot-assisted gait training sessions, divided into 2 phases: in the first phase, all subjects completed 3 sessions both Lokomat and Ekso GT. Afterwards, participants were randomly assigned to Lokomat or the Ekso for 17 sessions. A questionnaire, investigating the subjective psychological impact (SPI) during gait training, was administered. The functional outcome measures were oxygen consumption (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), metabolic equivalent of task (MET), walking economy, and heart rate (HR).

Results

The metabolic responses (7.73 ± 1.02 mL/kg/min) and MET values (3.20 ± 1.01) during robotic overground walking resulted to be higher than those during robotic treadmill walking (3.91 ± 0.93 mL/kg/min and 1.58 ± 0.44; p < 0.01). Both devices showed high scores in emotion and satisfaction. Overground walking resulted in higher scores of fatigue, mental effort, and discomfort while walking with Lokomat showed a higher score in muscle relaxation. All patients showed improvements in walking economy due to a decrease in energy cost with increased speed and workload.

Conclusions

Overground robotic-assisted gait training in rehabilitation program needs higher cognitive and cardiovascular efforts than robot-assisted gait training on a treadmill.

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Funding

The study was partly funded within the research project “Clinical and healthcare strategies for improving quality of life in persons affected by spinal cord injuries: Tuscany regional network and use of innovative technological devices” (RF-2011-02346770) by the Italian Ministry of Health under “Ricerca Finalizzata e Giovani Ricercatori 2011–2012.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdepartmental Research Centre on Biology and Pathology of Aging, University of Pisa, via Roma 55, I-56126, Pisa, Italy

    Silvia Corbianco, Gabriella Cavallini & Marco Dini

  2. Human Movement and Rehabilitation Research Laboratory, Pisa, Italy

    Silvia Corbianco & Marco Dini

  3. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Ferdinando Franzoni

  4. Spinal Cord Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy

    Carla D’Avino, Adriana Gerini & Giulia Stampacchia

Authors
  1. Silvia Corbianco
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  2. Gabriella Cavallini
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  3. Marco Dini
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  4. Ferdinando Franzoni
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  5. Carla D’Avino
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  6. Adriana Gerini
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  7. Giulia Stampacchia
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Correspondence to Silvia Corbianco.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the local Ethical Committee of Pisa University Hospital in accordance with the code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).

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Written informed consent was obtained prior to participation in the study and after an explanation of the protocol.

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The authors declare that the results of this study are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation.

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Corbianco, S., Cavallini, G., Dini, M. et al. Energy cost and psychological impact of robotic-assisted gait training in people with spinal cord injury: effect of two different types of devices. Neurol Sci 42, 3357–3366 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04954-w

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