​PhD Project: Early Gait Robot Training After Severe Brain Injury

About the Project
Since 2012, the Department of Brain and Spinal Cord Injury has applied gait robots in early rehabilitation. Physiotherapist and PhD student Vibeke Wagner is conducting a PhD project to document and investigate the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted gait training for patients with severe brain injury during the early phase of hospitalization where consciousness is impaired.

Robot-assisted gait training can increase training intensity and reduce the physical workload of healthcare staff. However, the effects on patients and the optimal timing of such training have been only sparsely studied. Vibeke Wagner's research explores how robot-assisted training and activity monitoring can support patient recovery. The goal is to enhance patients' function and independence. The project is expected to be completed in November 2025.

Funding
The project is supported by the Council for the Victims Fund, the Aase and Ejnar Danielsen Foundation, the Grosserer AV Lykfeldt and Wife's Grant, the Carl and Ellen Hertz Grant, the Torben and Alice Frimodt Foundation, and the University of Copenhagen.

Contact
Please contact Vibeke Wagner on vibeke.wagner@regionh.dk for further information or questions.

Research Project: Gait Robot Rehabilitation for Stroke Patients

About the Project
With this project we investigate if individuals with stroke and long term impairment can recover further with intensive training with and without assistance of a weight-supporting robot. The participants included have transitioned to maintenance physiotherapy and are between 6 and 24 months post-stroke with continued walking impairment. They undergo a 6-month training program, during which researchers assess their progress. Participants are randomized to train either with or without a weight-supporting gait robot. This robot partially lifts the participants, reducing the effect of gravity. As a result, movement becomes easier, enabling more repetitions during training before fatigue sets in. High number of repetitions in task specific training are known to increase neuroplasticity and thus recovery in the early phase, but we aim to see if this is also the case in a more chronic state post stroke.

The project is a collaborative effort with the University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital.

The project also investigates whether training—even long after a stroke—can still lead to improvements, and whether the use of a gait robot enhances these outcomes.

Collaborators

• Danish Association of the Disabled (Sponsor)
• Anders Holsgaard-Larsen, Professor
• Jens Bojsen Møller, PhD, Associate Professor
• Anders Stengaard Sørensen, PhD, Associate Professor
• Kate Lykke Lambertsen, PhD, Professor
• Helle Hvilsted Nielsen, Clinical Professor
• Henrik Boye Jensen, PhD, Chief Physician, Research Lecturer
• Marion Buckwalter, PhD, Professor

Funding
The project is primarily funded by the A.P. Møller Foundation and secondarily supported by the Hørslev Foundation, the Aase and Ejnar Danielsen Foundation, the University of Southern Denmark, Odense University Hospital, and the Rigshospitalet Joint Research Fund.

Contact
For further information or questions, please contact Jon Skovgaard Jensen at jskovgaard@health.sdu.dk or Christina Rostrup Kruuse at christina.kruuse@regionh.dk.

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