Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26463355›Full record

SynthesisJournal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation2015

Gait speed using powered robotic exoskeletons after spinal cord injury: a systematic review and correlational study.

Dennis R Louie, Janice J Eng, Tania Lam, Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) Research Team

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07030322 (Health and Financial Impact on the Use of a Personal Exoskeleton in the Home and Community), which is not on this map. Cited by 77 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
77citing papers in PubMed, 12 pooled it
15.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07030322 enrolling by invitationnot on this mapstarted 2025, after this paper: background citation

Health and Financial Impact on the Use of a Personal Exoskeleton in the Home and Community: a Case Study

TypeobservationalSponsorEkso BionicsRan2025 to 2027Enrolled5ConditionsSpinal Cord InjuryArmsOverground Robotic Exoskeleton
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

77 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 223 citations in OpenAlex.

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17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Dennis R LouieUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. r.louie@alumni.utoronto.ca.
Janice J EngUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. janice.eng@ubc.ca.
Tania LamUniversity of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. tania.lam@ubc.ca.
Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) Research Team
University of British Columbia · CA

Funding

Canadian Institutes of Health Research
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Powered robotic exoskeletons are an emerging technology of wearable orthoses that can be used as an assistive device to enable non-ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) to walk, or as a rehabilitation tool to improve walking ability in ambulatory individuals with SCI. No studies to date have systematically reviewed the literature on the efficacy of powered exoskeletons on restoring walking function. Our objective was to systematically review the literature to determine the gait speed attained by individuals with SCI when using a powered exoskeleton to walk, factors influencing this speed, and characteristics of studies involving a powered exoskeleton (e.g. inclusion criteria, screening, and training processes). A systematic search in computerized databases was conducted to identify articles that reported on walking outcomes when using a powered exoskeleton. Individual gait speed data from each study was extracted. Pearson correlations were performed between gait speed and 1) age, 2) years post-injury, 3) injury level, and 4) number of training sessions. Fifteen articles met inclusion criteria, 14 of which investigated the powered exoskeleton as an assistive device for non-ambulatory individuals and one which used it as a training intervention for ambulatory individuals with SCI. The mean gait speed attained by non-ambulatory participants (n = 84) while wearing a powered exoskeleton was 0.26 m/s, with the majority having a thoracic-level motor-complete injury. Twelve articles reported individual data for the non-ambulatory participants, from which a positive correlation was found between gait speed and 1) age (r = 0.27, 95 % CI 0.02-0.48, p = 0.03, 63 participants), 2) injury level (r = 0.27, 95 % CI 0.02-0.48, p = 0.03, 63 participants), and 3) training sessions (r = 0.41, 95 % CI 0.16-0.61, p = 0.002, 55 participants). In conclusion, powered exoskeletons can provide non-ambulatory individuals with thoracic-level motor-complete SCI the ability to walk at modest speeds. This speed is related to level of injury as well as training time.

Indexed as

GaitOrthotic DevicesRoboticsEquipment DesignHumansSpinal Cord Injuries

Identifiers

PMID26463355
PMCPMC4604762
OpenAlexW2106701171

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.