Clinical Investigation on Safety, Feasibility and Usability of the ABLE Exoskeleton Device With Spinal Cord Injured Patients in a Hospital Setting

In the researchers' words

The loss of the ability to walk and the associated restriction of mobility presents a major challenge to people with spinal cord injury in an everyday environment designed for pedestrians. Exoskeletal technology has the potential to help people with impaired leg function to regain ambulation and thus improve their independence. This technology is not completely new, but due to their high access price (\~120k€/unit), high size and weight (\~25 kg), and need for trained physiotherapist supervision, commercially available exoskeletons are only found in large hospitals and only in very few cases get into patients' homes. The company ABLE Human Motion S.L. (Barcelona, Spain) has developed a novel exoskeleton to overcome these disadvantages, which is more compact, lighter (9 kg) and easier to use. The primary objective of the study is to investigate the safety, feasibility and usability of the ABLE exoskeleton device in people with spinal cord injury during a four to six weeks gait training in clinical settings. Furthermore, potential effects of the training on walking, general health status, user satisfaction, and quality of life will be assessed.