BME.11 Rehabilitation Treadmill

• Yaseen Ghani
• Fatemah Naqvi
• Rebeca Ramirez
• Aditi Vij
• Sam Winters

Stroke survivors can experience debilitating long term side effects; one being an asymmetrical gait. There is current ongoing research dedicated to studying biomechanics and neuromechanics post stroke as well as rehabilitation techniques to improve overall motor function. Current treatments include rehabilitation physical therapy via treadmill that can help improve an impaired gait symmetry. However, current therapies struggle to access a treadmill that can drive asymmetrical rehabilitation therapy. Therefore, our project empowers asymmetrical rehabilitation protocols to improve walking in those unilateral walking limitations. We developed a single belt, non-inclinable treadmill that can accelerate and decelerate within a person’s stride, has built-in safety precautions, and an intuitive control interface that is usable by both patients and healthcare professionals. The speed and acceleration for the treadmill are controlled utilizing an Arduino board connected to the internal motor controller. The controller utilizes pulse wave modulation at 20 Hz to control the motor and was the controller parameters were verified using a two-sided t test in order to demonstrate the efficacy of the device. This was paired with feedback from researcher and clinicians in order to ensure the device is able to be used practically. Improving a strokes survivors gait deviation will improve foot landing stability, balance, and hemiparesis. In the long run preventing joint damage, reduce social isolation, and other serious health complications, improving overall quality of life.