Robot Walking Rehabilitation in Stroke Patients

In the researchers' words

Stroke are the main causes of motor disability among adults and are expected to impose an increasing social and economic burden for our Country. The impact of stroke on patients is enormous, with negative ramifications on the persons participation in social, vocational, and recreational activities. It is the primary cause of long-term disability in these countries. At the present stage, it is well known that control of balance during upright standing depends upon the central integration of afferent information from vestibular, somatosensory (proprioceptive, tactile), and visual systems, which constitute a multilink neural network for the control of neck, hip, and ankle joints. More recently, it has been studied at the level of cerebral cortex; vestibular inputs would reach face/neck representation of primary somatosensory cortex and would be then integrated with visual and somatosensory inputs in intraparietal, posterior end of the insula and medial superior temporal cortices. Remarkably, balance impairment and the associated risk of falling represent one of the most prominent and potentially disabling features in stroke subjects. The specific aims of this project are: to verify whether the robotics lower limb treatment with body weight support is more effective than the treadmill treatment in the reduction of motor impairment in Stroke patients, and to improve the quality of…