Gait Rehabilitation with Exoskeletons Stefano Federici, Fabio Meloni, and Marco Bracalenti Contents State of the Art .................................................................................... 2 Exoskeletons’ Development and Technical Data ................................................ 3 Development .................................................................................. 3 Technical Data ................................................................................. 5 The Effectiveness of Powered, Active Lower Limb Exoskeletons in Gait Rehabilitation ..... 8 Conclusions ....................................................................................... 32 Cross-References ................................................................................. 33 References ........................................................................................ 34 Abstract The exoskeleton is a robotics-assisted, powered device that enables paralyzed patients to stand up and walk. This chapter examines the state of art concerning the use of active, powered, and wearable lower limb exoskeletons for aiding and rehabilitating paraplegic patients’ gait disorders resulting from serious central nervous system lesions. A qualitative analysis of the literature review found that the rehabilitative use of an exoskeleton is safe and practical, not physically exhausting, and requires just a little cognitive effort. In addition, exoskeleton use is easy to learn, increases mobility and functional abilities, and decreases the risk of secondary injuries, restoring a gait pattern comparable to normal when walking over ground. Nevertheless, the rehabilitative use of an exoskeleton has some important limitations: the wearability criteria are too restrictive, the training to use it autonomously at home is very complex, and the device is still extremely expensive. A further limitation is the scarcity of experimental designs that S. Federici (*) • F. Meloni • M. Bracalenti Department of Philosophy, Social & Human Sciences and Education, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy e-mail: stefano.federici@unipg.it; stefano.federici@gmail.com; fa.meloni@gmail.com; marco. bracalenti90@gmail.com # Springer International Publishing AG 2016 B. Müller, S.I. Wolf (eds.), Handbook of Human Motion, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30808-1_80-1 1