Study limitations
RECRUITMENT
There were some limitations to the present study. Firstly, we did not set guidance force and step initiation detection specifically for each patient. Adapting robot guidance to the actual walking capacity of the patient, in other words to the patient’s movement as needed (Assist-as-Needed, AAN [The sample size was not adequate since we estimated 24. Besides, no stratification based on the time since the injury or the level of injury could be made. The IG appears to be younger with a shorter injury duration, which could potentially favor more change. However, differences for demographic variables did not reach statistical significance. This could also be attributable to the limited study size. Another limitation, no follow-up evaluation after 6 months was registered. Furthermore, the recruitment period and the number of training sessions were limited due to logistics and time constraints. Likewise, it was not possible to carry out a multi-center study as the exoskeleton is not available at other centers. Finally, we also acknowledge that the intervention could not be blinded to the patient, therefore risking a placebo effect.