Therapy with T-FLEX Ankle-Exoskeleton for Motor Recovery: A Case Study with a Stroke Survivor

Stroke is the main neurological condition causing disability worldwide. Physical therapy and robotic devices have been used in rehabilitation to recover lost locomotor functions. Despite the advantages of using robots in rehabilitation scenarios, some joints remain with alterations after therapy processes (e.g., the ankle joint). This paper presents a single case study of a patient with chronic stroke who participated in 18 sessions to assess the effects of T-FLEX in lower limb kinematics, spatiotemporal parameters, and muscular activity. To this end, each session consisted of two modalities: (1) 90-degree knee flexion, and (2) complete knee extension. The results showed improvement in the participant's spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters, as well as in the foot clearance during the swing phase. Regarding the muscular activity, the first sessions showed considerable increases related to the patient's inactivity. However, as the experiment proceeded, this value decreased as a consequence of the adaptation to the device. Regarding the electrical activity measured during each session, both muscles (i.e., gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior) tended to increase at the end-stage.