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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Rehabilitation in Neurological Conditions
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2024.1428708

Recommendations for Clinical Decision-Making when Offering Exoskeletons for Community Use in Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Provisionally accepted
Derrick Onate Derrick Onate 1*Cassandra Hogan Cassandra Hogan 2*Kathryn Fitzgerald Kathryn Fitzgerald 2*Kevin T. White Kevin T. White 2,3*Keith Tansey Keith Tansey 4,5,6
  • 1 Other, Marlborough, MA, United States
  • 2 James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Tampa, Florida, United States
  • 3 University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States
  • 4 Center for Neuroscience and Neurological Recovery, Methodist Rehabilitation Center, Jackson, Kentucky, United States
  • 5 G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Jackson, Mississippi, United States
  • 6 University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Approved in 2014 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with a trained companion, personal powered exoskeletons (PPE) for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) provide an opportunity for the appropriate candidate to ambulate in their home and community. As an adjunct to wheeled mobility, PPE use allows those individuals who desire to ambulate the opportunity to experience the potential physiological and psychosocial benefits of assisted walking outside of a rehabilitation setting. There exists, however, a knowledge gap for clinicians regarding appropriate candidate selection for use, as well as who might benefit from ambulating with a PPE. The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance for clinicians working with individuals living with SCI by outlining an expert consensus for a PPE decision-making algorithm, as well as a discussion of potential physiological and psychosocial benefits from PPE use based on early evidence in publication.

    Keywords: exoskeleton, mobility, Community Ambulation FDA-Food and Drug Administration, PPE-Personal Powered Exoskeleton, SCI-Spinal cord injury, VHA-Veterans Health Administration, VA Veterans Affairs, KAFO-Knee Ankle Foot Orthotic

    Received: 06 May 2024; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Onate, Hogan, Fitzgerald, White and Tansey. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Derrick Onate, Other, Marlborough, MA, United States
    Cassandra Hogan, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Tampa, 33612, Florida, United States
    Kathryn Fitzgerald, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Tampa, 33612, Florida, United States
    Kevin T. White, James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Tampa, 33612, Florida, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.