The Development of a Rehabilitation Orthotic Walker with a Real-time Visual Feedback System of the Gait Symmetry

Abstract

Patients who suffer from a disability or face temporary walking difficulty due to accidents or medical conditions have to go through rehabilitation treatment, which requires them to use an orthotic walking assistive device such as a walker, cane, or crutches. It is estimated that there are more than 7.4 million people in the world who depend on walkers to assist them in their walking either due to a disability, old age, or as a part of their rehabilitation following accidents or medical conditions. The use of orthotic assistive devices may last for several weeks or months and encourage patients to keep the weight off the injured or weak limb and exert more force on the healthy limb. Such prolonged use of walking assistive devices and heavy reliance on healthy lower limbs may cause negative gait disorders for patients. Negative gait disorders are due to unbalanced gait because of the lack of continuous feedback to patients about their gait. Physical therapist feedback to patients is limited to their physical presence with patients; hence, it is not practical to give the patient corrective feedback about their gait with every walking step. Hence, to overcome this pitfall, a visual feedback system of the gait symmetry, which could be installed on any traditional rehabilitation orthotic walker, was designed, developed, and proven. The visual feedback system was 3D modeled utilizing SolidWorks 2021, and parts were 3D printed utilizing the Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ 3D printer. This real-time visual feedback system relies on load cells installed in the tips of the orthotic walker legs to measure the force and weight being exerted on each side of the orthotic walker. The visual feedback system was tested to give the patients visual feedback, encouraging them to correct their unbalanced gait by shifting their weight bearing on either of their two lower limbs. This novel and innovative system mitigates the negative effects of the traditional orthotic walker on the overall gait and helps to mitigate negative gait disorders in patients.