Exoskeleton and Spinal Chord Stimulation

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Traditional rehabilitation technologies for motor impairments currently look like treadmill training, orthoses usage, and walkers. These methods currently have mixed results on their effectiveness, and they are often hard to continually use or engage with. Lower body exoskeletons and transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation are newer technologies that are both less obstructive and more engaging options that show early promise in being highly effective during rehabilitation sessions. Continuing to support and research cutting edge technologies that are made possible currently are important to keep providing people with the best care and quality of life the twenty first century has to offer.

CONTRIBUTIONS

CODING AND DATA ANALYTICS

As a researcher on this project, beyond getting to engage with the Exoskeleton and Spinal cord stimulation hardware, I created computational code to analyze gait cycles. By use of infrared markers my team collected data on ten participants in a study group while they used the exoskeleton, spinal cord stimulation and both technologies. I then processed this data through Qualisys Track Manager and converted this data into a matrix for each session. Creating a MATLAB and Python code I was able to derive information such as step length from the matrix data. My work and code will be used in both novel studies of these devices to continue discovering the effects of these technologies in therapy settings for individuals with neuromuscular disabilities.