Robotics for Gait Training After Spinal Cord Injury

Locomotor training can help people with spinal cord injury to regain some mobility. However, the amount of hands-on therapy that patients can receive is limited, as economic pressures are inherent in the health care system. Therefore, worldwide efforts are being made to automate locomotor training. Automation has the potential to make therapy more affordable and thus more available for more patients and for more time. This article reviews efforts to automate locomotor training. We suggest that developing robotic devices that assist only as needed during step training is an important direction for future research.