Archived
This content is available here for research, reference, and/or recordkeeping.
Abstract
Active lower-body exoskeleton devices can decrease the energy requirement of the human body by providing mechanical assistance to lower-body muscles. However, they also alter gait kinematics and kinetics, and it is not well understood whether such alterations are detrimental or beneficial to the human body. In this pilot study, we investigated the impact of walking with an ankle exoskeleton device on the biomechanics of men while carrying a heavy load. We collected computed tomography images and motion-capture data for five young, healthy men who walked 5 km (∼60 min) with a 22.7-kg load, with and without an active ankle exoskeleton (the ExoBoot EB60). We developed personalized musculoskeletal models and calculated the joint kinematics and kinetics for each participant under each walking condition. Without the ExoBoot, at 5 km compared to 0 km, on average, the peak trunk flexion angle increased by ∼35% and the stride length increased by ∼3.5%. In contrast, with the ExoBoot, the magnitude of the corresponding increases was smaller (∼16% and ∼2%, respectively). After the 5-km walk, compared to walking without the ExoBoot, its use considerably altered hip-related biomechanical parameters, e.g., it increased hip abduction angle by ∼17%, increased hip flexion moment by ∼3.5%, and decreased hip adduction moment by ∼19%. Finally, irrespective of distance, ExoBoot use significantly increased the stance duration and peak ankle plantarflexion angle (p < 0.001). Overall, the use of the ExoBoot induced beneficial alterations in stride length and trunk-, ankle-, and hip-related parameters for men walking with load carriage. The quantitative analysis provided by this pilot study should help guide future investigations and inform the development of standards for safe and effective use of emerging exoskeleton technologies.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2025.1533001
Funding Information
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was sponsored by the Military Operational Medicine Program Area Directorate of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), Fort Detrick, MD. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation was supported by the USAMRDC under Contract No. W81XWH20C0031. In addition, Michael A. Samaan was partly supported by the National Institutes of Health (K01-AG073698).
Repository Citation
Nagaraja, Sridevi; Rubio, Jose E.; Tong, Junfei; Sundaramurthy, Aravind; Pant, Anup; Owen, Meredith K.; Samaan, Michael A.; Noehren, Brian W.; and Reifman, Jaques, "Effects of an active ankle exoskeleton on the walking biomechanics of healthy men" (2025). Physical Therapy Faculty Publications. 144.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/rehabsci_facpub/144
Notes/Citation Information
© 2025 Nagaraja, Rubio, Tong, Sundaramurthy, Pant, Owen, Samaan, Noehren and Reifman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.