Agility Trainer 2.0: Dynamic Treadmill Force Field System for Balance Rehabilitation

SHORT DESCRIPTION
This technology creates a dynamic treadmill environment that applies adjustable lateral forces to improve dynamic balance during walking.

• Keith Gordon*
• Felix Huang
• Geoffrey Brown
• Mengnan Wu

* Principal Investigator

NU Tech ID:  NU 2017-103

IP STATUS

Issued US Patent - View Patent Details

DEVELOPMENT STAGE

TRL-5 Prototype Validated in Relevant Environment: The prototype has been successfully tested in a simulated clinical setting.

BACKGROUND
1 in 4 older adults fall annually, incurring ~$80 billion in medical costs. Physical therapy that applies forces to make balancing more challenging can reduce fall rates. However, this evidence-based approach is underutilized in clinics due to safety risks, high clinician burden, and staffing demands. Clinics need a safe, single-provider solution that delivers personalized, measurable balance training across the balance spectrum from assistance to advanced challenges.

ABSTRACT
The Agility Trainer 2.0 system applies adjustable, lateral forces to a patient’s pelvis during treadmill walking. It uses high precision motorized cable systems to generate velocity-dependent forces that either resist or amplify lateral movement.  Laboratory-based clinical trials have found gait training in a movement amplification environment created by the Agility Trainer can improve walking balance in people with neurologic injury. This clinical tool offers a user-friendly interface, and integrates easily with existing treadmill setups, paving the way toward production-ready deployment.

APPLICATIONS

• Gait training for older adults and individuals with neurologic injury such as stroke, and incomplete spinal cord injury to enhances dynamic walking balance.
• Clinical rehabilitation tool for balance improvement: Supports systematically challenging balance.
• Performance enhancing tool for healthy individuals and athletic populations looking to maintain or improve balance and agility.
• Integration with standard treadmill training: Provides a customized, balance-challenging environment.

ADVANTAGES

• Delivers quantifiable balance challenges: Allows precise adjustment of applied forces.
• Improves gait stability: Helps target dynamic balance.
• Integrates with existing clinical equipment: Easily pairs with standard treadmills and safety supports.
• Simplifies clinical operation: Features a user-friendly interface for single-operator use.

PUBLICATIONS

• Keith Gordon et al., Movement augmentation to evaluate human control of locomotor stability. 2017 39th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC); 2017: IEEE.
• Keith Gordon et al., Amplify Gait to Improve Locomotor Engagement in Spinal Cord Injury (AGILE SCI) trial study protocol for an assessor blinded randomized controlled trial, BMC Neurology, 2024.
• Ochs, W. L., Woodward, J., Cornwell, T., & Gordon, K. E. (2021). Meaningful measurements of maneuvers: People with incomplete spinal cord injury ‘step up’ to the challenges of altered stability requirements. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 18(1), 46.
• Major, M. J., Serba, C. K., & Gordon, K. E. (2020). Perturbation recovery during walking is impacted by knowledge of perturbation timing in below-knee prosthesis users and non-impaired participants. Plos one, 15(7), e0235686.
• Wu, M., Brown, G. L., Woodward, J. L., Bruijn, S. M., & Gordon, K. E. (2020). A novel movement amplification environment reveals effects of controlling lateral center of mass motion on gait stability and metabolic cost. Royal Society open science, 7(1).
• Bucklin, M. A., Brown, G., & Gordon, K. E. (2019). American Society of Biomechanics Journal of Biomechanics Award 2018: Adaptive motor planning of center-of-mass trajectory during goal-directed walking in novel environments. Journal of biomechanics, 94, 5-12.
• Wu, M. M., Brown, G., & Gordon, K. E. (2017). Control of locomotor stability in stabilizing and destabilizing environments. Gait & posture, 55, 191-198.