With regard to asymmetry, significantly improvements were seen for compensatory movement during training using Walk-Mate, but improvements were not retained as rehabilitative results. If patients can use the system to learn a regulated walking rhythm, then it may also be expected to fulfil the functions of a gait rehabilitation training device for daily life. Walk-Mate generates a model walking rhythm in response to a user’s locomotion in real time, and by indicating this rhythm using auditory stimuli, provides a technology that supports walking by reducing asymmetries and fluctuations in foot contact rhythm. We evaluate the effectiveness of Walk-Mate, which has been used mainly as a gait compensation device, as a gait rehabilitation training device by analyzing improvement in locomotion before, during and after rehabilitation in hemiparetic patients and comparing it with a previous gait training method. From a rehabilitation viewpoint, it may therefore be supposed that ideally, devices that can be used in daily life to improve the locomotive functions of the body itself should be proposed. It is possible that some individuals with gait impairment may be prevented recovering locomotive function. These techniques are beneficial for effortlessly supporting patients’ locomotive functions, but the users of such devices must necessarily remain dependent on them.

Many techniques that compensate for locomotion problems in daily life using externally controlled stimulation have recently been reported.

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