Parkinson Disease
Conditions
Keywords
Exoskeleton, Active Pelvis Orthosis
Brief summary
The goal of this study is to develop and validate a haptic assistive method in order to support walking in patients with Parkinson's disease, delivered to the patient's hips through a wearable robotic pelvis orthosis.
Detailed description
None of the existing robotic devices used for gait rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease is wearable. Thanks to the wearable robotic pelvis orthosis we will use, the rehabilitation sessions can take place in an ecological environment. The other advantage of the proposed assistance protocol is its adaptability: patients will feel their hips pattern to be smoothed by the robot, but they will keep the freedom of continuously steering their main movement variables (like stride frequency, duration, and length). A key measured metric will precisely rely on this variability between stride durations. Indeed, the degree of stride-to-stride variability was shown to reflect the patient's physiological state, and to be correlated with the stage of the disease. Experimental trials will be conducted to assess both the assistive (i.e. the therapy effect during the therapy itself) and rehabilitative (i.e. effect after the therapy) natures of our protocol. The second main objective of this project will be the analysis of the effects of our protocol regarding the stride-to-stride variability of patients with Parkinson's disease.
Interventions
DEVICEActive Pelvis Orthosis
Walking with the robotic device providing the assistive protocol.
OTHERWalking exercises
Walking exercises without wearing the robotic device.
Sponsors
Université Catholique de Louvain
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Parkinson's disease diagnosis positive according to UK Brain Bank criteria * Hoehn and Yahr score of 1 to 3 * Mini-mental state (MMSE) higher than 24 * Optimal drug treatment for at least 4 weeks at the time of inclusion * No contraindication to physical exercising (ACSM criteria)
Exclusion criteria
* Not being able to understand French well enough * Not being in the targeted age range
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Long-Range Autocorrelation (LRA) | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | Assesses the variability between stride durations |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | Self reported measure of balance confidence in performing various activities |
| Balance Evaluation Systems Test (BESTest) | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | The balance of subjects is tested during 6 postural control contexts |
| Gait analysis | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | Average stride length and duration, gait symmetry, hips range of motion |
| Unified Parkinson's disease rating scales (UPDRS) | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | Assesses the disease stage and severity |
| Physiological Cost Index | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | In order to assess the metabolic efforts associated to walking |
| System Usability Scale (SUS) | After 4 weeks | Self reported measure of the fatigue and stress felt by patients |
| Joint torques | From day 0 up to 8 weeks | In order to assess the mechanical efforts associated to walking |
Countries
Belgium
Outcome results
None listed