Study of a wire-driven leg rehabilitation system

We propose here a new type of leg rehabilitation system. The aim of the system is to realize the multiple-degree-of-freedom (DOF) training of a leg by manipulating the patient´s leg with wires. First, a single-DOF experimental system was built and tested, and the experimental results showed the feasibility of a wire-driven leg rehabilitation system. Next, a 2-DOF experimental system was designed, with a target motion of flexion/extension of both the hip and knee joints. Experiments of single-DOF motion on a test dummy and a male subject showed that the system generated enough accurate motion to support a range of motion exercises. In addition, the results demonstrate that the wire-driven mechanism is user friendly.