作者
Damien Duddy, Rónán Doherty, James Connolly, Johnny Loughrey, Joan Condell, David Hassan, Maria Faulkner
发表日期
2022/5/19
期刊
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
卷号
19
期号
10
页码范围
6176
出版商
MDPI
简介
Individuals with neurological impairments tend to lead a predominantly sedentary lifestyle due to impaired gait function and mobility. This may be detrimental to health by negatively impacting cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular strength, and increasing the risk of developing secondary health problems. Powered exoskeletons are assistive devices that may aid neurologically impaired individuals in achieving the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) physical activity (PA) guidelines for health. Increased PA should elicit a sufficient cardiorespiratory stimulus to provide health benefits to exoskeleton users. This study examined the cardiorespiratory demands of treadmill walking with and without the Ekso GT™ among able-bodied participants. The Ekso GT™ is a powered exoskeleton that enables individuals with neurological impairments to walk by supporting full body mass with motors attached at the hip and knee joints to generate steps. This feasibility study consisted of one group of healthy able-bodied individuals (n = 8). Participants completed two 12 min treadmill walking assessments, one with and one without the Ekso GT™ at the same fixed speed. Throughout each walking bout, various cardiorespiratory parameters, namely, volume of oxygen per kilogram (kg) of body mass ( V ˙ O2·kg−1), volume of carbon dioxide per kg of body mass ( V ˙ CO2·kg−1), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), ventilation ( V ˙ E), heart rate (HR), and rate of perceived exertion (RPE), were recorded …
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D Duddy, R Doherty, J Connolly, J Loughrey, J Condell… - International Journal of Environmental Research and …, 2022