Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
General product information only, not medical advice. Decisions about a specific child or patient belong to their clinician and care team.
Short answer
A gait trainer is a wheeled walking aid for people who need much more help staying upright and moving forward than a standard walker gives. One US payer policy describes the pediatric version as a walking aid for children who need a lot of help staying upright, one the policy says wraps around the child’s body to give more support. A mechanical walker is defined as giving moderate weight support, while the pediatric gait trainer is described for children who require moderate to maximum support.
Definition and scope
The clearest published definition comes from a payer, not a regulator. Anthem’s Clinical UM Guideline CG-DME-36, Pediatric Gait Trainers (publish date 1 July 2026, last reviewed 14 May 2026), calls a pediatric gait trainer with trunk support “a device similar to a walker that is intended to provide balance, stability, and postural control in children who require moderate to maximum support for walking.” The same policy says it does not address electromechanical or robotic-assisted devices, so this page does not either.
Gait trainers are used by children who have trouble walking because of conditions that affect body control. The policy lists cerebral palsy, spina bifida, traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury as examples. Adult and non-pediatric use is outside what that source covers, so this page limits its specific claims to the pediatric device.
How a gait trainer is used in practice
Anthem’s policy places gait trainer use alongside physical therapy rather than in place of it. It summarises the evidence as one randomized controlled trial with limited enrollment and one descriptive survey, and concludes that the evidence “supports gait trainer use as an adjunct to physical therapy in appropriately selected children.”
- The survey: In a survey of caregivers of 108 children and adolescents with motor disabilities (Peredo and colleagues, 2010), 10 of 52 children with cerebral palsy (19%) used a gait trainer, and 5 of the 11 gait trainer users overall (46%) used it daily.
- The limit: The policy notes the literature on specific training approaches is limited by small sample sizes and single-site designs, and that better studies are needed to know which type of gait trainer or approach works best for each child.
Posterior vs anterior gait trainer
Payers code pediatric gait trainers by where the support sits. The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) wording quoted in the Anthem policy is:
| HCPCS code | Descriptor as quoted by Anthem |
|---|---|
| E8000 | Gait trainer, pediatric size, posterior support, includes all accessories and components |
| E8001 | Gait trainer, pediatric size, upright support, includes all accessories and components |
| E8002 | Gait trainer, pediatric size, anterior support, includes all accessories and components |
The terms refer to where the support is positioned: behind the user (posterior), in front (anterior), or upright. These are descriptions from one payer’s document, not a ranking of products.
Gait trainer vs walker, cane and gait belt
Canes, walkers, gait belts and gait trainers are often mentioned together. The regulatory text defines only the walker, so the table states what each source says and no more.
| Item | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanical walker | “A four-legged device with a metal frame intended for medical purposes to provide moderate weight support while walking,” used by people who lack strength, good balance or endurance. Class I, exempt from premarket notification. | 21 CFR 890.3825 |
| Pediatric gait trainer | A walker-like device for children needing moderate to maximum support; provides balance, stability and postural control; coded by posterior, upright or anterior support. | Anthem CG-DME-36 |
For the other two items, see the site’s own pages: what a cane is, and what a gait belt is. Related walker types are covered in what is a walker and the hemi-walker guide.
How one payer and the FDA describe it
Anthem’s policy is one example of how a payer frames pediatric gait trainers. It is one insurer’s policy, not a universal rule: it sets its own coverage criteria, and other payers publish theirs, so a payer’s own document is the place to read its terms.
On regulation, the policy states that FDA categorizes gait trainers as Class I devices under product codes ITJ (walker, mechanical) and NXE (walker, mechanical, polyvinyl chloride), each 510(k)-exempt. The openFDA classification database lists both codes as Class I under regulation number 890.3825 (checked 30 October 2026). The same policy does not address electromechanical or robotic-assisted devices.
Common misunderstandings
- “It is just a bigger walker.” The policy describes it as walker-like but wrapping around the body to give more support, aimed at a higher support need.
- “Insurers all follow the same rules.” The policy discussed here is Anthem’s. Other payers publish their own.
- “It is only for children.” The coding and policy discussed here are pediatric-size; this page makes no claim about adult devices.
FAQ
What is a gait trainer used for?
Anthem’s policy describes it as a device that provides balance, stability and postural control for children who require moderate to maximum support for walking.
How is a gait trainer different from a walker?
A mechanical walker is defined in 21 CFR 890.3825 as giving moderate weight support, while Anthem describes a pediatric gait trainer as for children needing moderate to maximum support, wrapping around the child’s body to give more support.
What do posterior and anterior mean?
They are the support positions in the HCPCS descriptors: posterior support is E8000, upright support is E8001 and anterior support is E8002.
Is a gait trainer a regulated medical device?
Per Anthem’s policy, FDA treats gait trainers as Class I, 510(k)-exempt devices under product codes ITJ and NXE.
Sources
- Anthem, Clinical UM Guideline CG-DME-36 Pediatric Gait Trainers (publish date 1 July 2026): https://www.anthem.com/medpolicies/abc/active/gl_pw_c174202.html. Checked 30 October 2026.
- 21 CFR 890.3825 Mechanical walker: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/21/890.3825. Checked 30 October 2026.
- openFDA device classification, product codes ITJ and NXE: https://api.fda.gov/device/classification.json?search=product_code:ITJ. Checked 30 October 2026.
- Peredo DE et al., 2010 survey of caregivers, as summarised in the Anthem policy above.
