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Di Marco R, Rubega M, Lennon O, Formaggio E, Sutaj N, Dazzi G, Venturin C, Bonini I, Ortner R, Cerrel Bazo HA, Tonin L, Tortora S, Masiero S, Del Felice A. Experimental Protocol to Assess Neuromuscular Plasticity Induced by an Exoskeleton Training Session. Methods Protoc 2021; 4:48. [PMID: 34287357 PMCID: PMC8293335 DOI: 10.3390/mps4030048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Exoskeleton gait rehabilitation is an emerging area of research, with potential applications in the elderly and in people with central nervous system lesions, e.g., stroke, traumatic brain/spinal cord injury. However, adaptability of such technologies to the user is still an unmet goal. Despite important technological advances, these robotic systems still lack the fine tuning necessary to adapt to the physiological modification of the user and are not yet capable of a proper human-machine interaction. Interfaces based on physiological signals, e.g., recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) and/or electromyography (EMG), could contribute to solving this technological challenge. This protocol aims to: (1) quantify neuro-muscular plasticity induced by a single training session with a robotic exoskeleton on post-stroke people and on a group of age and sex-matched controls; (2) test the feasibility of predicting lower limb motor trajectory from physiological signals for future use as control signal for the robot. An active exoskeleton that can be set in full mode (i.e., the robot fully replaces and drives the user motion), adaptive mode (i.e., assistance to the user can be tuned according to his/her needs), and free mode (i.e., the robot completely follows the user movements) will be used. Participants will undergo a preparation session, i.e., EMG sensors and EEG cap placement and inertial sensors attachment to measure, respectively, muscular and cortical activity, and motion. They will then be asked to walk in a 15 m corridor: (i) self-paced without the exoskeleton (pre-training session); (ii) wearing the exoskeleton and walking with the three modes of use; (iii) self-paced without the exoskeleton (post-training session). From this dataset, we will: (1) quantitatively estimate short-term neuroplasticity of brain connectivity in chronic stroke survivors after a single session of gait training; (2) compare muscle activation patterns during exoskeleton-gait between stroke survivors and age and sex-matched controls; and (3) perform a feasibility analysis on the use of physiological signals to decode gait intentions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Di Marco
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
| | - Maria Rubega
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
| | - Olive Lennon
- School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin, 4 Dublin, Ireland;
| | - Emanuela Formaggio
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
| | - Ngadhnjim Sutaj
- g.tec Medical Engineering GmbH, 4521 Schiedlberg, Austria; (N.S.); (R.O.)
| | - Giacomo Dazzi
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
| | - Chiara Venturin
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
| | - Ilenia Bonini
- Ospedale Riabilitativo di Alta Specializzazione di Motta di Livenza, 31045 Treviso, Italy; (I.B.); (H.A.C.B.)
| | - Rupert Ortner
- g.tec Medical Engineering GmbH, 4521 Schiedlberg, Austria; (N.S.); (R.O.)
| | | | - Luca Tonin
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; (L.T.); (S.T.)
| | - Stefano Tortora
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; (L.T.); (S.T.)
| | - Stefano Masiero
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Alessandra Del Felice
- Department of Neurosciences, Section of Rehabilitation, University of Padova, via Belzoni, 160, 35121 Padova, Italy; (E.F.); (G.D.); (C.V.); (S.M.); (A.D.F.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35129 Padova, Italy
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