Restoring Walking With a Powered Exoskeleton After Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trial

Official title: Restoring Walking With a Powered Exoskeleton After Complete and Sever Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Powered exoskeletons have emerged recently, promising to offer walking to individuals with severe spinal cord injury who are unable to walk. We will use the ReWalk exoskeleton to train walking in individuals with chronic, severe spinal cord injury (SCI). We will determine the characteristics of individuals who most benefit from such training, and identify the neuroplasticity induced by the training. We will further determine the feasibility of the ReWalk for home and community ambulation.

Clinical Trial Description

A prospective, pilot, cohort study design will recruit participants to train intensively for a 3 month period. The training sessions will be documented in detail, including number of steps taken, speed of walking, distance of walking. Once walking speed has plateaued, we will evaluate the feasibility of using the device in a home-like environment and in the community. At the end of this study, we will have a good idea of the capability of the ReWalk to assist walking in those with severe spinal cord injury. We will better understand which individuals are most likely to benefit from the ReWalk. We will know how training in the ReWalk changes the neural connections between the brain and the spinal cord so that we can better guide the training protocol. Finally, we will identify limitations of the ReWalk for home and community use, so that exoskeletons can be improved in the future to maximize their benefit to people with spinal cord injury. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Spinal Cord Injuries
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Wounds and Injuries

• NCT number: NCT02322125
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Alberta
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 2014
• Completion date: September 26, 2018