In the past, criteria used in gait training of disabled individuals were based primarily on cosmetic patterns, with a tendency toward doing away with assistive devices. However, experimental studies of energy demands indicate the need for determining which devices are the most economical from the viewpoint of energy expenditure.

Since rehabilitation requires effort on the part of the patient, we are concerned with how to increase the amount of work the patient can do with the residual functional parts of his body; how to minimize the amount of work normal persons do in the course of daily activities; how much these work requirements increase for the disabled individual and how much this increase can be lessened by ambulation training and assistive deivces.

Energy expenditure in normal and abnormal ambulaton has been reviewed along with related articles which have been introduced in the past couple of decades.