Restoration of functional gait in paraplegic patients with the RGO-II hybrid orthosis. A multicentre controlled study. I. Clinical evaluation.

By means of a multicentric study in six rehabilitation centres, we assessed the RGO-II orthosis to restore functional gait in patients with spinal cord injuries. The 26 subjects participating in the study had spastic complete paraplegia. Twenty one had progressed to the training programme and 19 were able to stand up alone. The trained subject's walking distance ranged from 200 to 1400 m, while their walking speed ranged from 0.15 to 0.45 ms-1. A 2-month follow-up study revealed that, out of 15 patients using the hybrid orthosis, 11 were home users. Modalities and adverse effects of training are reported. The place of gait restoration with a hybrid orthosis in a rehabilitation programme is discussed.