Robot Walking Rehabilitation in Parkinson's Disease

The effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatment on gait impairment on Parkinson Disease (PD) such as exercises has been demonstrated; in particular an example for patient tailored exercises is physiotherapy. The goal of physiotherapy treatment is to enable PD patients to maintain their maximum level of mobility, activity, and independence. Several systematic reviews and clinical studies have shown that physical therapy can contribute to minimize the disabling effects of motor and sensory impairments in order to enhance participation in societal roles and quality of life. The use of electromechanical devices such as treadmill training (a supplement to conventional therapies) in the last years has also been used with PD patients and a systematic Cochrane has been conducted by Mehrholz in 2010 to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of treadmill training in the treatment of gait disorders for patients with PD. In the last years new robotic assisted device can be used in gait training in neurological disorder. Till now only few studies, have focused on the effects of exoskeleton or end effector robot-assisted training in PD patients, with a interesting preliminary results.