Evaluation of Muscle Synergy During Exoskeleton-Assisted Walking in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis

被引:10
作者
Afzal, Taimoor [1 ,2 ]
Zhu, Fangshi [1 ,3 ]
Tseng, Shih-Chiao [4 ]
Lincoln, John A. [5 ]
Francisco, Gerard E. [1 ,3 ]
Su, Hao [6 ]
Chang, Shuo-Hsiu [1 ,3 ]
机构
[1] Univ Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston, Dept Phys Med & Rehabil, Houston, TX 77030 USA
[2] Worcester Polytech Inst, Dept Biomed Engn, Worcester, MA 01609 USA
[3] Neurorecovery Res Ctr TIRR Mem Hermann, Ctr Wearable Exoskeletons, Houston, TX USA
[4] Univ Texas Med Branch, Dept Phys Therapy, Galveston, TX 77555 USA
[5] Univ Texas Hlth Sci Ctr Houston, Dept Neurol, Houston, TX 77030 USA
[6] North Carolina State Univ, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Lab Biomechatron & Intelligent Robot, Raleigh, NC USA
关键词
Muscles; Legged locomotion; Exoskeletons; Multiple sclerosis; Training; Turning; Knee; multiple sclerosis; gait; muscle synergy; GAIT; VARIABILITY; IMPAIRMENT; DISABILITY; COMPLEXITY;
D O I
10.1109/TBME.2022.3166705
中图分类号
R318 [生物医学工程];
学科分类号
0831 ;
摘要
Objective: Gait deficit after multiple sclerosis (MS) can be characterized by altered muscle activation patterns. There is preliminary evidence of improved walking with a lower limb exoskeleton in persons with MS. However, the effects of exoskeleton-assisted walking on neuromuscular modifications are relatively unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the muscle synergies, their activation patterns and the differences in neural strategies during walking with (EXO) and without (No-EXO) an exoskeleton. Methods: Ten subjects with MS performed walking during EXO and No-EXO conditions. Electromyography signals from seven leg muscles were recorded. Muscle synergies and the activation profiles were extracted using non-negative matrix factorization. Results: The stance phase duration was significantly shorter during EXO compared to the No-EXO condition (p<0.05). Moreover, typically 3-5 modules were extracted in each condition. The module-1 (comprising Vastus Medialis and Rectus Femoris muscles), module-2 (comprising Soleus and Medial Gastrocnemius muscles), module-3 (Tibialis Anterior muscle) and module-4 (comprising Biceps Femoris and Semitendinosus muscles) were comparable between conditions. During EXO condition, Semitendinosus and Vastus Medialis emerged in module-5 in 7/10 subjects. Compared to No-EXO, average activation amplitude was significantly reduced corresponding to module-2 during the stance phase and module-3 during the swing phase during EXO. Conclusion: Exoskeleton-assistance does not alter the existing synergy modules, but could induce a new module to emerge, and alters the control of these modules, i.e., modifies the neural commands indicated by the reduced amplitude of the activation profiles. Significance: The work provides insights on the potential underlying mechanism of improving gait functions after exoskeleton-assisted locomotor training.
引用
收藏
页码:3265 / 3274
页数:10
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