Simulation of human gait with body weight support: benchmarking models and unloading strategies

BACKGROUND: Gait training with partial body weight support (BWS) has become an established rehabilitation technique. Besides passive unloading mechanisms such as springs or counterweights, also active systems that allow rendering constant or modulated vertical forces have been proposed. However, only pilot studies have been conducted to...

Design of a passive overground body weight support system with forward force: Theory, conception & realization

Gait rehabilitation attempts to alleviate gait and balance impairments caused by spinal cord injury. Conventional gait rehabilitation often includes unloading a portion of the user’s weight with a vertical force. This vertical force enables people to practice stepping but makes forward propulsion more difficult. Users will adopt a compensatory...

Performance evaluation of the RYSEN: a 3D overground body weight support system

Body weight support (BWS) systems are widely used in gait rehabilitation. These systems allow patients to gradually increase training intensity and promote independent walking. Currently, there is no standardized method to assess the performance of BWS systems. This work proposes methods and metrics that can be used to assess and compare any...

Influence of body weight unloading on human gait characteristics: A systematic review

Background: Body weight support (BWS) systems have shown promise as rehabilitation tools for neurologically impaired individuals. This paper reviews the experiment-based research on BWS systems with the aim: (1) To investigate the influence of body weight unloading (BWU) on gait characteristics; (2) To study whether the effects of BWS differ...

Benchmarking gait models for simulating the influence of body weight unloading on human gait

Preserved gait kinematics during controlled body unloading

Background: Body weight supported locomotor training was shown to improve walking function in neurological patients and is often performed on a treadmill. However, walking on a treadmill does not mimic natural walking for several reasons: absent self-initiation, less active retraction of leg required and altered afferent input. The...