Current state of the exoskeletons and the user experiences
In this project we investigated whether people with a complete spinal cord injury can use an exoskeleton independently at home, after a short training period of 8 weeks. With this project we got insight in the experiences of the exoskeleton users. This project was completed in October 2019.
Twenty-five people participated in the exoskeleton study. More than 50% had sufficient skills to use the exoskeleton at home, after the training period. In general, people were satisfied with the exoskeleton. The exoskeleton was mainly used as a training device and for social interaction at eye level. Further research into the special wishes and use of the exoskeleton should reveal which technological improvements would be desirable.
The first results of the exoskeleton research have been published in scientific journals. The results on the health effects will follow shortly.
The exoskeleton research was partly funded by:
Within this project we cooperated with:
- Hennie Rijken, physical therapist spinal cord injury Sint Maartenskliniek
- Jacques van Eupen, physical therapist spinal cord injury Sint Maartenskliniek
- Cebrail Tatu, physical therapist spinal cord injury Sint Maartenskliniek
- Patrick Koomen, physical therapist spinal cord injury Sint Maartenskliniek
- Ted van den Boom, head of the department for spinal cord injury Sint Maartenskliniek
- Henk van de Meent, rehabilitation physician Radboudumc
- Juha Hijmans, assosciate professor UMCG centrum voor revalidatie Beatrixoord
- Hiltje Venema, fysiotherapeut UMCG centrum voor revalidatie Beatrixoord