The H2 robotic exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation after stroke: early findings from a clinical study

Ask your stroke hospital which exoskeleton they have already tested and which one of these they like. No testing, you have an incompetent stroke hospital doing nothing for stroke survivors. That should get me lots of angry replies. I look forward to their excuses and will publicly repudiate them. 

The H2 robotic exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation after stroke: early findings from a clinical study

MagdoBortole1,2*,AnushaVenkatakrishnan2,4,FangshiZhu2,JuanCMoreno 1,GerardEFrancisco3, JoseLPons1 andJoseLContreras-Vidal2

Abstract 

Background: 

Stroke significantly affects thousands of individuals annually, leading to considerable physical impairment and functional disability. Gait is one of the most important activities of daily living affected in stroke survivors. Recent technological developments in powered robotics exoskeletons can create powerful adjunctive tools or rehabilitation and potentially accelerate functional recovery. Here, we present the development and evaluation of novel lower limb robotic exoskeleton, namely H2(TechnaidS.L.,Spain), for gait rehabilitation in stroke survivors. 

Methods: H2 has six actuated joints and is designed to allow intensive over ground gait training. An assistive gait control algorithm was developed to create a force field along a desired trajectory, only applying torque when patients deviate from the prescribed movement pattern. The device was evaluated in 3 hemiparetic stroke patients across 4 weeks of training per individual(approximately12sessions). The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Houston. The main objective of this initial preclinical study was to evaluate the safety and usability of the exoskeleton. A Likert scale was used to measure patient’s perception about the easy of use of the device. 

Results: Three stroke patients completed the study. The training was well tolerated and no adverse events occurred. Early findings demonstrate that H2 appears to be safe and easy to use in the participants of this study. The over ground training environment employed as a means to enhance active patient engagement proved to be challenging and exciting for patients. These results are promising and encourage future rehabilitation training with a larger cohort of patients.

Conclusions: 

The developed exoskeleton enables longitudinal over ground training of walking in hemiparetic patients after stroke. The system is robust and safe when applied to assist a stroke patient performing an over ground walking task. Such device opens the opportunity to study means to optimize are habilitation treatment that can be customized for individuals. Trial registration: This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov(NCT02114450).