Energy Consumption and Physiological Reactions of Treadmill Walking with Functional Electrical Stimulation Using Original Primewalk and Modified Primewalk in Paraplegia

The Primewalk is a slide type of medial single hip joint originally designed by Saitoh, and later modified to add hip internal rotation devices. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence on the cardiopulmonary system of paraplegic walking by means of FES while using the original Primewalk and the modified Primewalk. The subject was a 22-year-old male with T12 complete paraplegia who walked on a treadmill using FES with both Primewalks. The walking speed was 1 km/h (equivalent to a comfortable walking speed) and the walking time was 4 minutes. During the walking trial, oxidative energy consumption, step cadence, physiological cost index and blood pressure were measured. There were no significant differences found between the original Primewalk and the modified Primewalk when comparing all parameters. The modified Primewalk was useful for restoring paraplegic walking without any serious cardiopulmonary. Fig 1: Primewalk, a slide type of medial single hip