Title:
Exoskeleton Assistance with Vibrotactile and Audio Biofeedback for Post-stroke Gait Retraining
Exoskeleton Assistance with Vibrotactile and Audio Biofeedback for Post-stroke Gait Retraining
Author(s)
Upton, Emily
Advisor(s)
Young, Aaron
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Abstract
Over five million Americans are living post-stroke with a majority having locomotor
impairments. Paralysis of the paretic limb leads to reduction in walking speed and paretic
propulsion due to a smaller ankle moment and improper lower limb placement. This causes
large asymmetries between the two limbs. Improving the paretic limb’s propulsive force
and overall walking speed can be achieved through targeting the trailing limb angle (TLA)
and anterior ground reaction force (AGRF). TLA and AGRF are highly correlated and
through varying TLA, propulsion and walking speed can be altered.
Using an exoskeleton to assist while walking can be a good rehabilitation paradigm;
however, providing feedback to the individual is important for sustained motivation. My
thesis addresses this research gap on the use of biofeedback and exoskeleton assistance
together on post-stroke individuals. In order to test the effects of biofeedback alongside an
exoskeleton, a real-time vibrotactile-auditory biofeedback system was designed, created,
and validated. This system utilizes wearable sensors to measure the TLA in real time and
provide appropriate biofeedback to the user. This system has the ability to change propulsive impulse, self-selected walking speed (SSWS), and step length symmetry, improving
the overall gait of post-stroke individuals.
Two feasibility experiments were performed: one with an ankle exoskeleton and one
with a hip exoskeleton. These experiments included baseline, exoskeleton-only, biofeedback-only, and exoskeleton-plus-biofeedback conditions to test the outcomes across different
combinations of the rehabilitation paradigms. From the ankle exoskeleton experiment, we
see an greater improvement in paretic propulsive impulse when using the combination of
biofeedback and exoskeleton assistance compared to the other conditions. We see improvement in walking speed during the biofeedback-only condition. From the hip exoskeleton
experiment, we see improvement in paretic propulsive impulse for the biofeedback-only
condition.
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Date Issued
2022-05-03
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Thesis