Robotic Gait Training in Spinal Cord Injury

In the researchers' words

INTRODUCTION: The ability to move and transfer own body in an effective manner, is frequently affected in people with a spinal cord injury with a negative impact in mood and quality of life, in such a way, that achieving an effective locomotion, is one of the main objectives in the rehabilitation program in a spinal cord injured patient. There are different modalities of locomotion training in spinal cord injury, being the robotic orthosis among them, and offering until now, positive outcomes. However there´s still a lack of evidence of the optimal training characteristics, in order to establish the best time, number of sessions, and progression scheme. For these reasons, establishing the effects of different locomotion training programs will provide the necessary data in order to develop an effective training program for the maximum benefit of the patient. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of different training programs with robotic gait orthosis for patients with chronic motor incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) (American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) C / D) in short and long term. METHODS AND DESIGN. The design of the study consists on a randomized, blinded to the observer, clinical trial. Patients from the National Institute of Rehabilitation (INR) with spinal cord injury, AIS C and D, with at least 6 months of evolution, and who are able to walk…