Effect of Robot Assisted Gait Training on Motor and Walking Function in Patients with Subacute Stroke: A Random Controlled Study

Robot-assisted gait training has been confirmed to have beneficial effect on the rehabilitation of stroke patients. An exoskeleton robot, named BEAR-H1, is designed to help stroke patients with walking disabilities. 17 subjects in experimental group and 15 subjects in control group completed the study. The experimental group received 30 minutes of BEAR-H1 assisted gait training(BAGT), and the control group received 30 minutes of conventional training, 5 times/week for 4weeks. All subjects were evaluated with 6-minute walk test (6MWT), Fugl-Meyer Assessment for lower extremity (FMA-LE), Functional Ambulatory Classification (FAC), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), and gait analysis at baseline and after 4 weeks intervention. The improvements of 6MWT, FMA-LE, gait speed, cadence, step length and cycle duration in BAGT group were more noticeable than in the control group. However, there was no difference in the assessment of MAS between two groups. Our results showed that BAGT is an effective intervention to improve the motor and walking ability during 4 weeks training for subacute stroke patients.