Gait and ADL rehabilitation using a whole body motion support type mobile suit evaluated by cerebral activity

We developed a new whole body motion support type mobile suit. This suit can be used separately for supporting the upper and/or lower limbs, for assisting ADL (Activities of Daily Living). We also developed a mobile lifter system which can bear both the equipped person and the suit. This suit and the lifter can be used by motor palsy patients suffering from stroke, spinal-cord-injury, and central nerve disorders. Using this device, these patients can recover normal gait with no risk of falling. In this paper, the cerebral activity during walking using the suit and normal gait without the suit are compared. According to multiple trials with the suit on a treadmill, the activities of the premotor area sensory motor cortex decreased. Especially, while walking using the suit for supporting lower limbs without swinging arms, the cerebral activities of most of the areas decreased. It means to be ineffective for the patients accustomed to the suit in rehabilitation. However, on the contrary, by walking while swinging bilateral arms (even though these arms were assisted by the suit), the activity in the supplementary motor area increased (this area of the brain is related with memory of motion). Furthermore, the cerebral activities while walking on a treadmill and while walking in a corridor with an outside view were compared. From the results of this experiment, we found it is most effective for gait training to actually walk and not stay fixed in one location. We also found it is important for patients to swing their arms during gait training in rehabilitation. Finally, we compared the differences of the cerebral activity during ADL rehabilitation (flexion, extension, and rotation of the subject's elbow) using our suit operated by a third party or themselves (using opposite hand). From this result, cerebral activity while self operated was higher than the result operated by third party, even though the subjects were assisted with the suit in both experiments. From these trials, we can conclude that this suit is suitable to assist patients in gait and ADL rehabilitation.