Prolonged standing for children with paraplegia by means of hybrid orthosis: A case study

A hybrid orthosis system is described using two different floor reaction orthoses. The hybrid orthosis is designed to prolong standing of children with spinal cord injury when used with a functional neuromuscular stimulation system by reducing muscle fatigue. A state controller was designed to react to changes in force acting on the brace as measured with force sensing resistors. The controller indirectly determines if the subject is standing with a passive extension moment at the knee. The braces were compared to each other to evaluate how the sensor feedback detects destabilization in each design.