人工筋肉駆動型背屈支援RTの開発および臨床試験における背屈支援の評価

抄録

We developed a dorsiflexion support RT (Robot Technology) for patients with paralytic equinus. It is composed of a rubber artificial muscle, which assists the dorsiflexion muscle while walking. We conducted clinical trials on the dorsiflexion support RT in five patients with paralytic equinus. We conducted a 10-m walk test using a pre-post design for validating the adaptability of and the immediate effect of the dorsiflexion support RT on the muscle. We set the following two indices for evaluating dorsiflexion: differences in the ankle joint angle during dorsiflexion between toe off (pre-swing phase) and mid-swing phases and the toe clearance, which is the angle between the floor and sole during the initial contact phase. Results revealed that the ankle joint angle during dorsiflexion increased by 7.5° and the toe clearance increased by 4.2° after the intervention. Therefore, it is possible to effectively improve the abnormal gait of patients with stroke using this device. Also, It is considerable to obtain an immediate effect for learning gait in short-term. In the future, the number of clinical cases demonstrating the medium- and long-term intervention effect needs to be increased.