Paper Info
Title
Synchronized Tactile Stimulation on Upper Limbs Using a Wearable Robot for Gait Assistance in Patients With Parkinson's Disease.
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate whether using a wearable robot applying interactive rhythmic stimulation on the upper limbs of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) could affect their gait. The wearable robot presented tactile stimuli on the patients' upper limbs, which was mutually synchronized with the swing of their upper limbs. We conducted an evaluation experiment with PD patients (n = 30, Modified Hoehn-Yahr = 1-3, on-state) to investigate the assistance effect by the robot and the immediate after-effect of intervention. The participants were instructed to walk 30 m under four different conditions: (1) not wearing the robot before the intervention (Pre-condition), (2) wearing the robot without the rhythm assistance (RwoA condition), (3) wearing the robot with rhythm assistance (RwA condition), and (4) not wearing the robot immediately after the intervention (Post-condition). These conditions were conducted in this order over a single day. The third condition was performed three times and the others, once. The arm swing amplitude, stride length, and velocity were increased in the RwA condition compared to the RwoA condition. The coefficient of variance (CV) of the stride duration was decreased in the RwA condition compared to the RwoA condition. These results revealed that the assistance by the robot increased the gait performance of PD patients. In addition, the stride length and velocity were increased and the stride duration CV was decreased in the Post-condition compared to the Pre-condition. These results show that the effect of robot assistance on the patient's gait remained immediately after the intervention. These findings suggest that synchronized rhythmic stimulation on the upper limbs could influence the gait of PD patients and that the robot may assist with gait rehabilitation in these patients.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.3389/frobt.2020.00010
FRONTIERS IN ROBOTICS AND AI
Keywords
DocType
Volume
gait assist,rhythm synchronization,stimulation on upper limbs,wearable robot,Parkinson's disease,abnormal gait
Journal
7.0
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
2296-9144
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
8
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Takayuki Kishi100.34
Taiki Ogata22014.76
Hiroki Ora300.34
Ryo Shigeyama400.34
Masayuki Nakayama500.68
Masatoshi Seki63815.11
Satoshi Orimo700.34
Yoshihiro Miyake810723.98