In accordance with the movement coordination principle of both lower limbs, a complete radial basis functions neural network based adaptive sliding mode control strategy (RBFVSMC) is proposed. The movement information on the non-affected side of patients is detected to drive the rehabilitation training. The nonlinear mathematical model of the rehabilitation robot system is firstly described. Based on the robotic dynamic model, a variable sliding mode control (VSMC) is proposed to stabilize the system. To reduce the buffeting problem caused by VSMC, the universal approximation of RBFNN is used to approach and compensate external disturbances and uncertainties. Besides, the buffeting phenomenon of sliding mode control is alleviated by replacing the sign function with a saturation function. The final asymptotic stability is guaranteed with Lyapunov criteria. Compared to proportional-integral-derivative (PID), radial basis functions neural network (RBFNN), continuous terminal SMC (CNTSMC), and decentralized adaptive robust controller (NDOBCTC), the effectiveness of the overall control scheme is demonstrated by cosimulation and human experiment in accordance to track following performance and disturbances rejection ability. INDEX TERMS Rehabilitation robot, radial basis functions neural network, variable sliding mode control, coordinated movement.