Postural stabilization by trunk tightening force generated by passive power-assist device

Abstract

We are developing a passive power-assist supporter called Smart Suit Lite, which is a compact and lightweight power-assist device that utilizes the restoring force of elastic belts. Smart Suit Lite is designed not only to support muscles but also to stabilize the torso similarly to a corset. However, because a corset is always tight around the waist, negative effects caused by long-term use has been pointed out. In contrast, the tightening force generated by Smart Suit Lite increases only when the wearer adopts a posture corresponding to higher load on the low back. In this research, we performed two basic experiments to evaluate the static balance ability of wearers. As a result, the standard deviation of the lumbar angle decreased by 32.1% on average in wearers with low stability.

Muscle textile to implement soft suit to shift balancing posture of the body

“…The fatigue of the lower body and the upper limbs extends the length of trajectory of the body sway. Imamura [13] evaluated lumbarsupportive orthosis using a stabilometer. In the present study, the effect of the support for the upper limbs provided by the proposed suit was evaluated using a stabilometer, which can detect trembling caused by arm fatigue.…”