Spinal cord epidural stimulation (SCES) exhibits a rehabilitation potential of restoring locomotion in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, this is linked to an intensive rehabilitation locomotion approach, which is impractical to apply among a large clinical SCI population. We, hereby, propose a rehabilitation approach of using SCES to enhance motor control during exoskeletal‐assisted walking (EAW). After 24 sessions (12 weeks) of EAW swing assistance decreased from 100% to 35% in a person with C7 complete SCI. This was accompanied by 573 unassisted steps (50% of the total number of steps). Electromyographic pattern improved during EAW, reflecting the subject’s ability to rhythmically activate paralyzed muscles. Rate perceived exertion increased during EAW with SCES compared to stepping without SCES. These preliminary findings suggest that using SCES with EAW may be a feasible rehabilitation approach for persons with SCI.

中文翻译：

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在硬膜外刺激下使用外骨骼辅助行走的可行性：案例报告研究。

脊髓硬膜外刺激 (SCES) 在脊髓损伤 (SCI) 患者中表现出恢复运动的康复潜力。然而，这与强化康复运动方法有关，这在大量临床 SCI 人群中应用是不切实际的。我们在此提出了一种使用 SCES 来增强外骨骼辅助行走 (EAW) 期间运动控制的康复方法。在 24 次（12 周）的 EAW 摆动辅助后，C7 完全性 SCI 患者的挥杆辅助从 100% 降至 35%。这伴随着 573 个无辅助步骤（占步骤总数的 50%）。EAW 期间肌电图模式得到改善，反映了受试者有节奏地激活瘫痪肌肉的能力。与不使用 SCES 的步进相比，使用 SCES 的 EAW 期间感知到的劳累率增加。