Lower-Limb Amputees Can Reduce The Energy Cost Of Walking When Assisted By An Active Pelvis Orthosis
BioRob(2020)
Abstract
Exoskeletons could compete with active prostheses as effective aids to reduce the increased metabolic demands faced by lower-limb amputees during locomotion. However, little evidence of their efficacy with amputees has been provided so far. In this paper, a portable hip exoskeleton has been tested with seven healthy subjects and two transfemoral amputees, with the final goal to verify whether a hip flexion-extension assistance could be effective in reducing the metabolic cost of walking. The metabolic power of the participants was estimated through indirect calorimetry during alternated repetitions of three treadmill-based walking conditions: without the exoskeleton (NoExo), with the exoskeleton in zero-torque mode (ExoTM) and with the exoskeleton providing hip flexion-extension assistance (ExoAM). The results showed that the exoskeleton reduced the net metabolic power of the two amputees in ExoAM with respect to NoExo, by 5.0% and 3.4%. With healthy subjects, a 5.5 +/- 3.1% average reduction in the metabolic power was observed during ExoAM compared to ExoTM (differences were not statistically significant), whereas ExoAM required 3.9 +/- 3.0% higher metabolic power than NoExo (differences were not statistically significant). These results provide initial evidence of the potential of exoskeletal technologies for assisting lower-limb amputees, thereby paving the way for further experimentations.
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Key words
NoExo,hip flexion-extension assistance,ExoAM,net metabolic power,lower-limb amputees,energy cost,active pelvis orthosis,active prostheses,effective aids,metabolic demands,portable hip exoskeleton,transfemoral amputees,treadmill-based walking conditions,indirect calorimetry,zero-torque mode
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