TY - JOUR
T1 - Robotic techniques for upper limb evaluation and rehabilitation of stroke patients
AU - Colombo, Roberto
AU - Pisano, Fabrizio
AU - Micera, Silvestro
AU - Mazzone, Alessandra
AU - Delconte, Carmen
AU - Chiara Carrozza, M.
AU - Dario, Paolo
AU - Minuco, Giuseppe
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - This paper presents two robot devices for use in the rehabilitation of upper limb movements and reports the quantitative parameters obtained to characterize the rate of improvement, thus allowing a precise monitoring of patient's recovery. A one degree of freedom (DoF) wrist manipulator and a two-DoF elbow-shoulder manipulator were designed using an admittance control strategy; if the patient could not move the handle, the devices completed the motor task. Two groups of chronic post-stroke patients (G1 n = 7, and G2 n = 9) were enrolled in a three week rehabilitation program including standard physical therapy (45 min daily) plus treatment by means of robot devices, respectively, for wrist and elbow-shoulder movements (40 min, twice daily). Both groups were evaluated by means of standard clinical assessment scales and a new robot measured evaluation metrics that included an active movement index quantifying the patient's ability to execute the assigned motor task without robot assistance, the mean velocity, and a movement accuracy index measuring the distance of the executed path from the theoretic one. After treatment, both groups improved their motor deficit and disability. In G1, there was a significant change in the clinical scale values (p <0.05) and range of motion wrist extension (p <0.02). G2 showed a significant change in clinical scales (p <0.01), in strength (p <0.05) and in the robot measured parameters (p <0.01). The relationship between robot measured parameters and the clinical assessment scales showed a moderate and significant correlation (r > 0.53 p <0.03). Our findings suggest that robot-aided neurorehabilitation may improve the motor outcome and disability of chronic post-stroke patients. The new robot measured parameters may provide useful information about the course of treatment and its effectiveness at discharge.
AB - This paper presents two robot devices for use in the rehabilitation of upper limb movements and reports the quantitative parameters obtained to characterize the rate of improvement, thus allowing a precise monitoring of patient's recovery. A one degree of freedom (DoF) wrist manipulator and a two-DoF elbow-shoulder manipulator were designed using an admittance control strategy; if the patient could not move the handle, the devices completed the motor task. Two groups of chronic post-stroke patients (G1 n = 7, and G2 n = 9) were enrolled in a three week rehabilitation program including standard physical therapy (45 min daily) plus treatment by means of robot devices, respectively, for wrist and elbow-shoulder movements (40 min, twice daily). Both groups were evaluated by means of standard clinical assessment scales and a new robot measured evaluation metrics that included an active movement index quantifying the patient's ability to execute the assigned motor task without robot assistance, the mean velocity, and a movement accuracy index measuring the distance of the executed path from the theoretic one. After treatment, both groups improved their motor deficit and disability. In G1, there was a significant change in the clinical scale values (p <0.05) and range of motion wrist extension (p <0.02). G2 showed a significant change in clinical scales (p <0.01), in strength (p <0.05) and in the robot measured parameters (p <0.01). The relationship between robot measured parameters and the clinical assessment scales showed a moderate and significant correlation (r > 0.53 p <0.03). Our findings suggest that robot-aided neurorehabilitation may improve the motor outcome and disability of chronic post-stroke patients. The new robot measured parameters may provide useful information about the course of treatment and its effectiveness at discharge.
KW - Assessment scales
KW - Biomechatronics
KW - Computerized Analysis
KW - Neurorehabilitation
KW - Rehabilitation robotics
KW - Stroke
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U2 - 10.1109/TNSRE.2005.848352
DO - 10.1109/TNSRE.2005.848352
M3 - Article
C2 - 16200755
AN - SCOPUS:26244439110
VL - 13
SP - 311
EP - 324
JO - IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
JF - IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
SN - 1534-4320
IS - 3
ER -