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Restoration of motor functions in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) is a priority problem of this patient’s category medical rehabilitation. Despite the achievements of modern medicine, the level of movement restoration after SCI is often insignificant, many patients stayed confined to a wheelchair. Secondary complications (osteoporosis, obesity, cardiovascular, respiratory, urogenital, trophic and other disorders) used to develop in the injured people as a result of low physical activity, they aggravate the course of the main disease and complicate the process of medical rehabilitation. A hope for rehabilitation specialist and patients is associated with the appearance of robotic exoskeletons (RES), that might become an innovation means for improving the mobility of patients with SCI. The purpose of the review is to provide information on the possible benefits and disadvantages of the use of RES in the rehabilitation of patients with SCI. This article discusses the general characteristics of modern exoskeletons and the conditions of their use for patients with paralysis of the lower extremities. The article presents Information on the effectiveness and safety of the use of exoskeleton devices in neurorehabilitation, as well as data on limitations and problems associated with exoskeleton use in clinical practice. The results of meta-analyses and randomized studies on the potential benefits of the RES usage both in everyday life and in rehabilitation of patients with SCI are presented. The influence of walking training in the exoskeleton on the degree of motor functions improvement, overall physical activity level and body weight in patients with SCI is highlighted. The article draws attention to the unsolved problems and further perspectives of RES application in patients with SCI. It emphasizes the necessity for protocols standardization and large randomized comparative clinical trials organization with prolonged observational period of patients in order to determine exoskeletons usage potential.

Myofascial pain is one of the most common variants of chronic musculoskeletal pain, which significantly reduces the patients' life quality, prevents active kinesitherapy and is difficult to treat. A promising method of therapy for myofascial pain syndrome (MFBS) is the photobiomodulation method (FBM), which uses non-ionizing light sources (lasers, LEDs) and radiation in the visible, infrared and near-infrared spectral ranges for therapeutic purposes. The review briefly discusses the general understanding of FBM and the results of studies on the effectiveness of FBM in MFBS, it discusses possible mechanisms of the therapeutic effect of low-intensity optical radiation and the need to choose the optimal exposure parameters. Efficacy, non-invasiveness and safety enable to use FBM in elderly patients.

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Recovering the walking ability is one of the major goals in rehabilitation of poststroke patients. Locomotor training should be preceded by identifying pathological gait characteristics and functional gait assessment. The spectrum of rehabilitation methods for restoration of walking skills is quite wide and includes conventional training, training on a treadmill without body weight support and with body weight support, using of electromechanical and robotic devices, additional use of biofeedback, virtual reality, orthoses, electrical muscle stimulation, strength training and balance training. The review provides a brief description of these rehabilitation methods in view of evidence-based medicine. The individual choice of procedures depends on the severity, duration and characteristics of walking defiits, the patient’s preferences and limitations associated with his concomitant diseases.