preview

Flexor Muscle Exercise

Better Essays
Open Document

Discussion
There were few significant differences in knee extensor and knee flexor muscle activity during walking with robotic assistance. Significant differences in muscle activity across condition only occurred in muscles targeted for intervention (knee extensor, VL), with an increase in muscle activity during the EXO condition, a positive result for an extensor muscle. Although some undesirable increases in MH flexor muscle activity were seen in the linear envelopes, they did not present significant changes the statistical analysis on the group level. Muscle activity did not change significantly across visits with the exoskeleton.

On average, cortical activity did not differ in the presence of robotic knee extension assistance, supporting …show more content…

Future work in this area will focus on the use of EEG with exoskeleton assistance to maximize cortical activity during gait rehabilitation. The next step for the exoskeleton is use over extended periods of time, outside of the clinical environment, to determine if maintained muscle activity and improved kinematics translate to effects in normal walking.

Acknowledgements

Supported by the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (protocol #13-CC-0210) and the NIBIB Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program.

References

[1] Lerner Z.F., Damiano D.L., Park H.S., Gravunder A.J., Bulea T.C. (2017). A Robotic Exoskeleton for Treatment of Crouch Gait in Children With Cerebral Palsy: Design and Initial Application. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng, 25(6), 650-659. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2595501. Epub 2016 Jul 27. PubMed PMID: 27479974.

[2] Lotze M., Braun C., Birbaumer N., Anders S., Cohen L.G. (2003). Motor learning elicited by voluntary drive. Brain, 126(Pt 4), 866-72. PubMed PMID: …show more content…

(2015). Prefrontal, posterior parietal and sensorimotor network activity underlying speed control during walking. Front Hum Neurosci, 9:247. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00247. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 26029077; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4429238.

[4] Wagner J., Solis-Escalante T., Grieshofer P., Neuper C., Müller-Putz G., Scherer R. (2012). Level of participation in robotic-assisted treadmill walking modulates midline sensorimotor EEG rhythms in able-bodied subjects. Neuroimage, 63(3):1203-11. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.019. Epub 2012 Aug 14. PubMed PMID: 22906791.

[5] Lauer, R. T., & Prosser, L. A. (2009). Use of the Teager-Kaiser Energy Operator for Muscle Activity Detection in Children. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 37(8), 1584-93.

Get Access