Learning to walk again: Rehabilitation with HAL, a wearable cyborg

Exoskeletons fitted to the outside of the body to offer function and support have been around for a while, in science and science fiction alike. The Hybrid Assistive Limb or HAL, from renowned Japanese biomechanical innovator CYBERDYNE Inc., is somewhat different. Introduced to Saudi Arabia in 2017, by Abdul Latif Jameel Health and available at the Abdul Latif Jameel Rehabilitation Hospital in Jeddah – the first in the region and now a GCC regional training centre of excellence – the hospital offers this pioneering therapy to a range of patients.

The wearable cyborg HAL is the only approved system of its kind that uses non-invasive sensors to detect the weak bioelectrical signals that appear on the wearer’s skin surface. This signal that travels from the brain, spinal cord to the muscle contains information about how the person wants to move. HAL reads this signal and transforms them into a motorized response. The motion is therefore a deliberate and controllable activity in response to the desire to move from the patients themselves.

Akram Bouchenaki, Chief Executive Officer, Abdul Latif Jameel Health, said: “Seeing this technology come to life and helping patients in Abdul Latif Jameel Hospital is not only incredibly rewarding, but motivating too. Our mission is to take innovations in health and apply them in a tangible way – accelerating the access of health care for those who need it most. Health-tech is still in its infancy, but the wearable cyborg HAL is an example of how today’s technology can change a patient’s future.”

Cybernetics treatment
During the cybernetics treatment, impulses from the body are fed back to the brain, creating a positive neuromuscular feedback loop, triggering the responsible area of the brain and inducing neuroplasticity – the ability for the brain’s neural networks to change through growth and reorganization. Over the course of rehabilitative training using HAL, the musculature develops in response, and ultimately, the movement of the limbs can improve significantly. There are three different types of HAL that can be applied for a different part of the body. In the case of HAL Lower Limb Type that is installed at Abdul Latif Jameel Hospital, it will help the patient to walk with more stability and reduce the use of walking aids.

The technology of HAL Lower Limb Type compensates for the missing power of the lower limbs, and so can be used therapeutically for a broad range of walking disabilities in
patients who still possess at least some residual function in their legs. Neural impulses on the skin surface must be detectable and intercepted to use the system. Rehabilitative therapy using this technology has the potential to address conditions including spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, muscular dystrophy, and other neuromuscular diseases.

Spinal cord injury patients normally train for 12 weeks, five times per week. During this rehabilitation, key treatment goals may be achieved. Studies have shown positive results for increased walking speed, reduced need for walking aids, improved skin sensation, reduction of spasticity, reduction in neuropathic pain, muscular strengthening, and stimulation of affected brain regions.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Hospital works in partnership with CYBERDYNE in Japan and Germany. In a study to evaluate results in Saudi Arabia, an improvement in function of around 85% was achieved in most patients.

• Abdul Latif Jameel Health will be showcasing the CYBERDYNE HAL at Arab Health 2023, stand S1.J10 in Sheikh Saeed Hall 1 – where you can experience the HAL first-hand.
• The Abdul Latif Jameel Hospital can be contacted at:
  +966 12 677 0001
  info@aljhospital.com
  cyberdyne@aljhealtth.com