Design of a robotic platform for hip fracture rehabilitation in elderly people

Abstract

Falls are a major cause of injury among people over 65, being the hip fracture the most common consequence. The morbidities and even the high mortality associated lead to considerable social and economic costs surrounding the rehabilitation process. Hip fracture rehabilitation is long and complex and related to advanced age. The relentless growth of the older population in developed countries has made technology pursues new challenges to improve the quality of life and independence of this population. One of the newest applications has been the development of robotic platforms to rehabilitate musculoskeletal diseases. Within this context, this paper describes the design and development of a robotic platform, called SWalker, for hip fracture rehabilitation. The main goal of the platform is to promote the early weight bearing and mobilization. The paper describes the technical and functional validation of the system with a limited number of elderly patients. The positive results coming from the users suggest that the system is reliable, and it is ready for future clinical validation.