$2.1M Granted to Trial Exoskeleton Tech for Kids with Cerebral Palsy

Tthe National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development.has awarded mechanical engineer, inventor, and Northern Arizona University mechanical engineering professor Zach Lerner a $2.1 million grant—Lerner’s largest as principal investigator to date—to test his lightweight, wearable robotic neuromuscular training and walking assistance device to treat children with cerebral palsy.
 
“This is far and away the most significant grant we’ve received to date in terms of duration, budget and scope,” Lerner told the press. “The project builds directly on the work we’ve been doing at NAU for the past five years—developing an adaptive ankle exoskeleton device that offers a lightweight, portable and effective way to improve mobility in children with CP. We completed technological evaluations and the initial clinical feasibility and pilot studies necessary to collect the preliminary data for this randomized controlled trial (RCT), which is the gold standard for clinical trials looking to establish efficacy of a new intervention relative to standard of care.”
 
Lerner’s team is comprised of Biomechatronics colleagues including post-doctoral scholars Ying Fang and Paul Stegall; graduate students Greg Orekhov, Chance Cuddeback, Leah Liebelt, Karl Harshe and Safoura Bishe; undergraduate students Sam Maxwell and Jeff Yows; and MD/Ph.D. student Ben Conner.
 
The team will work with Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minn. Testing the exoskeleton technology for 12-week gait training. Lerner’s spinoff company is called Biomotum.
 
Battery-powered, wearable exoskeletons are one of the most promising potential new treatment strategies for neuromuscular rehabilitation via home-based gait training and mobility assistance.
 
“There is broad clinical consensus that dysfunction of the plantar flexors, or calf muscles, is a primary contributor to slow, inefficient and crouched walking patterns in individuals with CP,” Lerner explained. “Our study will focus on two hypotheses: that targeted ankle resistance training will produce larger improvements in lower-extremity motor control, gait mechanics and clinical measures of mobility compared to standard physical therapy and standard gait training, and that adaptive ankle assistance will result in significantly greater capacity and performance compared to walking with ankle foot orthoses and walking wearing just shoes.”
 
The study will evaluate age, gender, GMFCS level, and walking speed and spasticity rating, all associated with greatest outcome improvements.
 
Lerner’s research, to date, has been funded through a succession of grants totaling over $4.1 million, due to demonstrated walking function improvement that surpassed outcomes from invasive surgery.