Robotic
Trunk Support Device for
Rehabilitation Post Spinal Cord Injury
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a
Robotic Device that can help people with
Spinal Cord injuries to improve their
Trunk control, allowing them to sit more stably and expand their range of motion when sitting. The
Device consists of a motorized belt that attaches to the torso, and which applies forces as users complete upper body movements. The
Device is intended to reduce falls and improve movement capabilities in patients with
Spinal Cord injuries, who are typically wheelchair users.
Patientswith
Spinal Cord injuries can struggle with carrying out activities whilesitting in their wheelchairs. One of the issues is falls while performingeveryday tasks such as bending or reaching. Improving
Trunk control in suchpatients could help them to increase their stability and reduce their risk offalling.
These Columbia researchers have called their
Device the Trunk-Support Trainer (TruST), and it aims to train a user to expand their active workspace while sitting. “We designed TruST for people with
Spinal Cord injuries who are typically wheelchair users,†said Sunil Agrawal, one of the researchers involved in the study. “We found that TruST not only prevents patients from falling, but also maximizes
Trunk movements beyond patients’ postural control, or balance limits.â€
The systemconsists of a belt that lies around the torso of a user. The belt is attachedto motorized cables that can apply various forces to it as the user performsmovements. The
Device allows the user to perform upper body movements that theywould otherwise not be able to perform without using their hands for additionalstability.
So far, theresearch team has tested their
Device in a pilot study with five
Spinal cordinjury patients. The patients performed upper body movements where they movedtheir
Trunk as far as possible in eight different directions without the assistanceof their hands. When the patients used the system, they significantly expanded howfar they could reach, increasing the sitting workspace around their bodies byapproximately 25%.
“The capacity of TruST to deliver continuous force-feedback personalized for the user’s postural limits opens new frontiers to implement motor learning-based paradigms to retrain functional sitting in people with
Spinal Cord injuries,†said Victor Santamaria, a researcher involved in the study. “The
Robotic platform will be used to train participants with
Spinal Cord injuries by challenging them to move their
Trunk over a larger workspace, with TruST providing assist-as-needed force fields to safely bring the subjects back to their neutral sitting posture,†added Agrawal.
Here’s a video Columbia University released about the research:
Study in journal
Spinal Cord Series and Cases:
The robotic Trunk-Support-Trainer (TruST) to measure and increase postural workspace during sitting in people with spinal cord injury
Project info page:
TruST (Trunk Support Trainer)
Via:
Columbia University
