How Adaptive Ankle Exoskeleton Assistance Affects Stability During Perturbed and Unperturbed Walking in the Elderly.

Autor: Fang Y; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.; Department of Physical Therapy, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA., Lerner ZF; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA. Zachary.Lerner@nau.edu.; Department of Orthopedics, The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA. Zachary.Lerner@nau.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Annals of biomedical engineering [Ann Biomed Eng] 2023 Nov; Vol. 51 (11), pp. 2606-2616. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 14.
DOI: 10.1007/s10439-023-03310-1
Abstrakt: Slowing the decline in walking mobility in the elderly is critical for maintaining the quality of life. Wearable assistive devices may 1 day facilitate mobility in older adults; however, we need to ensure that such devices do not impair stability in this population that is predisposed to fall-related injuries. This study sought to quantify the effects of untethered ankle exoskeleton assistance on measures of stability, whole-body dynamics, and strategies to maintain balance during normal and perturbed walking in older adults. Eight healthy participants (69-84 years) completed a treadmill-based walking protocol that included perturbations from unexpected belt accelerations while participants walked with and without ankle exoskeleton assistance. Exoskeleton assistance increased frontal plane range of angular momentum (8-14%, p ≤ 0.007), step width (18-34%, p ≤ 0.006), and ankle co-contraction (21-29%, p ≤ 0.039), and decreased biological ankle moment (16-27%, p ≤ 0.001) during unperturbed and perturbed walking; it did not affect the anteroposterior margin-of-stability, step length, trunk variability, or soleus activity during unperturbed and perturbed walking. Our finding that ankle exoskeleton assistance did not affect the anteroposterior margin-of-stability supports additional investigation of assistive exoskeletons for walking assistance in the elderly.
(© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Biomedical Engineering Society.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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