TY - GEN
T1 - Cognitive demands during wearable exoskeleton assisted walking in persons with multiple sclerosis
AU - Afzal, Taimoor
AU - Kern, Marcie
AU - Tseng, Shih Chiao
AU - Lincoln, John
AU - Francisco, Gerard
AU - Chang, Shuo Hsiu
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The protocol for this study is available at clinicaltrials.gov ID# NCT02519244. T. Afzal is with the Center for Wearable Exoskeletons, NeuroRecovery Research Center, TIRR Memorial Hermann and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. M. Kern is with TIRR Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX, USA. S-C. Tseng is with the Texas Woman’s University, Houston, TX, USA. J. Lincoln is with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX. G. E. Francisco is with the Center for Wearable Exoskeletons, NeuroRecovery Research Center, TIRR Memorial Hermann and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. S-H. Chang, is with the Center for Wearable Exoskeletons, NeuroRecovery Research Center, TIRR Memorial Hermann and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. (shuo-hsiu.chang@uth.tmc.edu).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 IEEE.
PY - 2018/6/12
Y1 - 2018/6/12
N2 - Gait impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) are associated with weakened muscle control, poor coordination, high metabolic demands and fatigue. Robotic exoskeletons may facilitate walking and induce better control during walking leading to coordinated muscle activity, reducing metabolic and cognitive demands. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of variation in cognitive demands in persons with MS during exoskeleton assisted and unassisted walking. Eight subjects diagnosed with MS and expanded disability status scale (EDSS) between 6.0 and 7.5 completed up to 15 sessions of exoskeleton-assisted gait training. After training, cognitive demands were measured by a reaction time (RT) task during Timed 25 feet walk (T25FW). The subjects performed the RT task during both with and without exoskeleton walking. No difference was observed in RT during assisted and unassisted walking. The preliminary findings suggest that individuals with MS could walk with exoskeleton without greater cognitive demands.
AB - Gait impairment in persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) are associated with weakened muscle control, poor coordination, high metabolic demands and fatigue. Robotic exoskeletons may facilitate walking and induce better control during walking leading to coordinated muscle activity, reducing metabolic and cognitive demands. The purpose of this study was to determine the magnitude of variation in cognitive demands in persons with MS during exoskeleton assisted and unassisted walking. Eight subjects diagnosed with MS and expanded disability status scale (EDSS) between 6.0 and 7.5 completed up to 15 sessions of exoskeleton-assisted gait training. After training, cognitive demands were measured by a reaction time (RT) task during Timed 25 feet walk (T25FW). The subjects performed the RT task during both with and without exoskeleton walking. No difference was observed in RT during assisted and unassisted walking. The preliminary findings suggest that individuals with MS could walk with exoskeleton without greater cognitive demands.
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U2 - 10.1109/WEROB.2017.8383853
DO - 10.1109/WEROB.2017.8383853
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85049932610
T3 - 2017 International Symposium on Wearable Robotics and Rehabilitation, WeRob 2017
SP - 1
EP - 2
BT - 2017 International Symposium on Wearable Robotics and Rehabilitation, WeRob 2017
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2017 International Symposium on Wearable Robotics and Rehabilitation, WeRob 2017
Y2 - 5 November 2017 through 8 November 2017
ER -