The newly developed gait trainer allows wheel-chair-bound subjects the repetitive practice of a gait-like movement without overstressing therapists. The device simulates the phases of gait, supports the subjects according to their abilities, and controls the center of mass (CoM) in the vertical and horizontal directions. The patterns of sagittal lower limb joint kinematics and of muscle activat...

Chronic low back pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems. This disease, in addition to causing pain and disability affects the gait parameters in patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aquatic exercises therapy on the severity of pain, disability and Spatiotemporal parameters and kinetic of gait in women with chronic low back pain. Twenty-four women...

We review a treatment modality for movement disorders by sensory feedback. The natural closed-loop sensory-motor feedback system is imitated by a wearable virtual reality apparatus, employing body-mounted inertial sensors and responding dynamically to the patient's own motion. Clinical trials have shown a significant gait improvement in patients with Parkinson's disease using the apparatus. In ...

This chapter presents an augmented-reality based therapeutic device designed to overcome gait problems associated with Parkinson's Disease (PD). A normal model of gait is proposed followed by a model of Parkinsonian gait with the goal of construction of a gait enabling therapeutic device. The fundamental underlying tenet of the model is that vision pathology is responsible for the majority of P...

The ability to walk is important for independent living and when this capacity is affected by neurological injury, gait therapy is the traditional approach to re-train the nervous system. The importance of this problem is illustrated by the approximately 5.8 million stroke survivors alive in the US today and an estimated additional 700,000 strokes occurring each year, many requiring gait therap...

Falls by the elderly are highly detrimental to health, frequently resulting in injury, high medical costs, and even death. Using a MEMS-based sensing system, algorithms are being developed for detecting falls and monitoring the gait of elderly and disabled persons. In this study, wireless sensors utilize Zigbee protocols were incorporated into planar shoe insoles and a waist mounted device. The...

Gait reconstruction systems for paraplegics have been attempted to improve their activities of daily lives. The stride control based on the user’s intension is important to coordinate the voluntary movements of the user and the assisted movements of paralyzed legs. Assuming that the intended stride is equal to the distance of the preceding an arm movement, we developed a human interface estimat...