Abstract
Gait therapy is important to a person’s recovery following spinal cord or brain injury, stroke, lower extremity surgery, as well as with many chronic conditions (e.g., Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis). Although some affordable equipment for adult gait rehabilitation exists, such equipment for adaptive gait rehabilitation across the spectrum of pediatric sizes is not commercially available. This paper presents design improvements for a new pediatric gait rehabilitation machine intended to address this technology gap. The design is in the style of elliptical machines but is synthesized to emulate the normal kinematic demands of walking. It includes a 7-bar linkage for each foot, a chain/sprocket coupling for left/right synchronization, and motorized speed control.
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Stolle, C.J., Nelson, C.A., Burnfield, J.M., Buster, T.W. (2018). Improved Design of a Gait Rehabilitation Robot. In: Husty, M., Hofbaur, M. (eds) New Trends in Medical and Service Robots. MESROB 2016. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 48. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59972-4_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59972-4_3
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