'Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)'
Doi
Abstract
Nowadays there is an increasing percentage of elderly
people and it is expected that this percentage will continue
increasing, carrying huge organizational costs in rehabilitation
services. Recent robotic devices for gait training are more and
more regarded as alternatives to solve cost-efficiency issues and
provide novel approaches for training. Nevertheless, there is a
need to address how to target muscular activation and kinematic
patterns for optimal recovery after a neurological damage. The
main objective of this work was to understand the underlying
principles that the human nervous system employs to synchronize
muscular activity during walking assisted by Lokomat. A basic
low-dimensional locomotor program can explain the synergistic
activation of muscles during assisted gait. As a main contribution,
we generated a detailed description of the electro myographic and
biomechanical response to variations in robotic assistance in
intact humans, which can be used for future control strategies to
be implemented in motor rehabilitation
