OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of robotic-assisted gait training on cardiopulmonary fitness and exercise capacity for people with incomplete spinal cord injury. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PEDro, CENTRAL and CINAHL were searched from inception until September 4, 2022. Randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effects of robotic-assisted gait training on cardiopulmonary fitness and exercise capacity for individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury were selected. Mean differences (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. The methodological quality was evaluated by the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to the time since injury. RESULTS: In total 19 studies involving 770 patients were eligible for analysis. Individuals with acute incomplete spinal cord injury in robotic-assisted gait training groups showed significantly greater improvements in 6-minute walking test (MD 53.32, 95% CI 33.49 to 73.15, p < 0.001), lower extremity motor scale (MD 5.22, 95% CI 3.63 to 6.80, p < 0.001) and walking index for spinal cord injury II (MD 3.18, 95% CI 1.34 to 5.02; p < 0.001). Robotic-assisted gait training improved peak oxygen consumption to a greater degree for chronic incomplete spinal cord injury patients (MD 4.90, 95% CI 0.96 to 8.84, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Robot-assisted gait training may be a feasible and effective intervention in terms of cardiopulmonary fitness and exercise capacity for individuals with incomplete spinal cord injury.

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