BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Rehabilitation for Musculoskeletal Conditions
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fresc.2025.1602110
Clinical Outcome of Two Minute Walk Test after Return to Run Program in IDEO Users: A Retrospective Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, DHA, San Antonio, United States
- 2Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine, Center for the Intrepid, Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, United States
- 3Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States
- 4Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States
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Objective: To investigate clinical improvement in persons with severe musculoskeletal injuries following a 4-week high intensity sports-based return to run rehabilitation therapy program (RTR) combined with use of an Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis (IDEO). Patients: 41 persons (37 male and 4 female) with lower limb musculoskeletal injuries undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at the Center for the Intrepid were included in the retrospective cohort study. Methods: Retrospective analysis of clinical data was used to identify changes in Two Minute Walk Test (2MWT) outcomes in patients with lower limb musculoskeletal injuries without the IDEO, with the IDEO alone and after IDEO+RTR. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine differences in distance walked across the three groups (NO IDEO, IDEO alone, and IDEO+RTR). Bonferroni post-hoc analysis was performed, and a level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: A statistically significant difference in distance walked between all groups was observed (p < 0.001). Patients’ mean distance walked using the IDEO alone (179 m, p < 0.001) and IDEO+RTR (208 m, p < 0.001) increased significantly compared to NO IDEO (152 m, p < 0.001). These differences surpass the Minimal Clinically Important Difference (37.2 m) and the Minimal Detectable Change (34.3 m) for the 2MWT in the limb loss population. Conclusion: These data suggest the potential benefit of the combination of IDEO+RTR improved walking in patients with lower limb musculoskeletal injuries and suggest the 2MWT may be a meaningful, simple measure to detect improvement in function.
Keywords: Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis (IDEO), clinical outcome measure, 2 minute walk test (2MWT), lower limb musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs), functional mobility
Received: 28 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lockwood, Hovorka, Baumann and Childers. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Michelle Lockwood, Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, DHA, San Antonio, United States
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