Examination of cerebrovascular accident hemiplegic patients wearing an robot type ankle foot orthosis when walking from surface cerebral hemodynamics

Abstract

In this study, we compared and examined the difference in surface cerebral blood flow dynamics between ankle foot orthosis walking and robot-type ankle foot orthosis walking using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device. The subjects were 10 people with sequelae of cerebrovascular accident hemiplegia. In the task movement, we compared the changes in local cerebral blood flow oxy-Hb in each region of brain function during rest and walking under two conditions: walking with an ankle foot orthosis and walking with a robot-type ankle foot orthosis. The areas of brain function localization with significantly improved robotic ankle foot orthosis are the non-lesion side medial primary motor cortex, the lesion side medial primary motor area, the lesion side lateral primary motor area, the non-lesion side motor cortex, and the lesion side motor cortex. An increase in Oxy-Hb was observed at the estimated location. It was speculated that walking with a robot-type ankle foot orthosis and assisting ankle plantar dorsiflexion had some effect on the primary motor cortex.