Neuromechanical Mechanisms of Exosuit-assisted Gait Rehabilitation After Stroke

Plain-language summary

Stroke survivors often experience impaired neuromechanical control that limits walking speed and quality, particularly due to deficits in paretic propulsion. This study aims to identify patient-specific neuromechanical locomotor control strategies, link them to biomechanical gait impairments, and investigate how these strategies influence responses to soft robotic exosuit assistance of paretic propulsion and ground clearance during walking. The study focuses on adults who are more than six months post-stroke and have observable gait deficits. The main questions are: 1. How do neuromechanical control patterns (i.e., electromyography-measured muscle coordination) affect walking speed, quality, and gait biomechanics after stroke? 2. Do individuals with distinct neuromechanical patterns respond differently to robotic exosuit-assisted gait rehabilitation? Researchers will compare walking performance without and with robotic exosuit assistance to determine whether tailoring exosuit-assisted gait intervention to patient-specific neuromechanical profiles can lead to greater improvements in walking function. Participants will complete treadmill and overground walking assessments instrumented with motion capture, EMG, and force plates, performing one trial without assistance and two trials with robotic exosuit assistance delivered at different assistance onset timings, from which a preferred assistance setting will be identified. The walking trial associated with the preferred assistance setting will be used for primary analyses.

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