Redesign based on clinical experience of a robotic walker for hip fracture rehabilitation

Hip fracture is a common injury in people over 65 years old, linked to a reduction in life expectancy. Rehabilitation is based on gradual mobilization through manual therapy. However, these treatments are not usually integrative, they consist of repetitive exercises that are not motivating for the patient and their follow-up is mainly qualitative. SWalker is a robotic platform based on a traction and weight-bearing system that integrates gait sensors. A clinical study involving 34 patients was conducted with a first version of this walker. From this experience, the key design requirements for the development of this type of device were gathered. Based on these requirements, a second version of the walker was built and its usability was validated with 5 patients. Using the QUEST 2.0 scale, both versions of the walker were compared, showing improvements in safety, adaptability, and usability in the second version.