Clinical Trials with the WalkTrainer: Preliminary Results

Robotic devices are well suited for providing motion to the patient and information (positions, forces, etc.) to the therapist. The FSC and LSRO are combining their effort in the development of robotic re-education devices, focusing on active rehabilitation. A new generation of rehabilitation devices combining mobility, closed loop functional electrical muscle stimulation through force feedback and a compliant mechanical interaction was elaborated. At this time, two devices are developed: the MotionMaker™; a stationary device for functional muscle strengthening and the WalkTrainer™; the mobile rehabilitation device used for this study. Previous clinical results on the MotionMaker™ have demonstrated the enhancement of such concept to paraplegic’s life quality and muscle force increasing. The first clinical trials of the WalkTrainer™ on a population of SCI patients will be presented. These trials are made at the Clinique Romande de Réadaptation (CRR) in Sion with the help of medical actors through a predefined protocol.