Self-balancing Personal Exoskeleton for SCI

Launched by WANDERCRAFT · Jan 13, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is examining a personal exoskeleton designed to help people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) walk more easily and safely. The goal is to see how well this device works and if it is safe for individuals with conditions like paraplegia (loss of movement in the legs) and tetraplegia (loss of movement in both arms and legs). The study is currently looking for participants aged 18 and older, who have had their SCI for at least six months, and can come to a research center for training and assessments.

To participate, individuals must have a spinal cord injury at or above a specific level in the back and be able to understand and provide consent. They should also be able to attend several visits at the research site. However, certain conditions may prevent someone from participating, such as other neurological injuries, severe medical issues, or unhealed injuries. Companions are also welcome to join participants during the study, as long as they meet similar criteria. Those who take part can expect several training sessions where they’ll learn how to use the exoskeleton and be assessed on its effectiveness and safety. This could be a promising step towards improving mobility for individuals with spinal cord injuries.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• SCI user inclusion Criteria:
• • Any gender, age 18 years or older;
• • Motor complete or incomplete SCI with lesions at or above T6;
• • ≥ 6 months post SCI;
• • Able and willing to attend 9 to 10 visits1 to the center, including sessions of training and assessments of one-to-three hours duration;
• • Able to read, understand, and provide informed consent;
• • Living in the US and speaks English.
• SCI user exclusion Criteria:
• • Diagnosis of neurological injury other than SCI;
• • Progressive condition that would be expected to result in changing neurological status;
• • Severe concurrent medical disease, illness or condition judged to be contraindicated by the site physician;
• • Unhealed or unstable traumatic or high impact lower extremity fracture of any duration that is, in the clinical judgement of the study physician, exclusionary for standing and walking;
• • Knee (proximal tibia and/or distal femur) BMD \<0.60 gm/cm2;
• • Total hip BMD T-scores \< -3.5;
• • Fragility, minimal trauma, or low impact fracture of the lower extremity since SCI;
• • Untreatable severe spasticity judged to be contraindicated by the site physician;
• • Untreated/uncontrolled hypertension, as judged to be contraindicated by the site physician;
• • Unresolved orthostatic hypotension (change from baseline seated BP to a fall in 20mmHg SBP and/or fall in 10mmHG DBP and symptoms when standing), or as judged to be contraindicated by the site physician;
• • Open or unhealed skin pressure sores, abrasions, or bruises at any of the contact points of the exoskeleton;
• • Morphological contraindications to the use of the device;
• • Uncorrectable leg length discrepancy over 2 cm (about 0.79 in) when using additional correction tools;
• • Unable to effectively operate the device with a hand-control interface, due to functional and/or cognitive impairment, evaluated based on the ability to manipulate the joystick in all direction, press and identify buttons on the hand control interface.
• • Improper fitting in the device;
• • Psychopathology documentation in the medical record that may conflict with study objectives;
• • Pregnancy or women who plan to become pregnant during the study period;
• • Concurrent participation in another interventional trial;
• • History of uncontrolled autonomic dysreflexia;
• • Presence colostomy and/or urostomy;
• • Ventilator use at the time of the exoskeleton use;
• • Insufficient strength and performance capability (the ability to transfer into/out of the device or perform other training tasks with assistance).
• Companion inclusion Criteria:
• • Any gender, age 18 years or older;
• • Willingness to attend 9 to 10 visits to the center, including sessions of training and assessments of one-to-three hours duration with the SCI user;
• • Able to read, understand and provide informed consent;
• • Living in the US and speaks English.
• Companion exclusion Criteria:
• • Inability to communicate with an assistant due to cognitive and language disorders;
• • Any disease, concomitant injury, or condition that interferes with the performance or interpretation of the protocol- specified assessments;
• • Insufficient strength and performance capability, evidenced by the ability to hold and retain the device in case of unbalance/fall;
• • Insufficient availability to complete the study;
• • Concurrent participation in another interventional trial.