The Combined Effects of Adaptive Control and Virtual Reality on Robot-Assisted Fine Hand Motion Rehabilitation in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Case Study.
Journal:
Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association
PMID:
28919312
Abstract
Robot-assisted therapy is regarded as an effective and reliable method for the delivery of highly repetitive training that is needed to trigger neuroplasticity following a stroke. However, the lack of fully adaptive assist-as-needed control of the robotic devices and an inadequate immersive virtual environment that can promote active participation during training are obstacles hindering the achievement of better training results with fewer training sessions required. This study thus focuses on these research gaps by combining these 2 key components into a rehabilitation system, with special attention on the rehabilitation of fine hand motion skills. The effectiveness of the proposed system is tested by conducting clinical trials on a chronic stroke patient and verified through clinical evaluation methods by measuring the key kinematic features such as active range of motion (ROM), finger strength, and velocity. By comparing the pretraining and post-training results, the study demonstrates that the proposed method can further enhance the effectiveness of fine hand motion rehabilitation training by improving finger ROM, strength, and coordination.
Authors
Keywords
Adaptation, Psychological
Aged
Biomechanical Phenomena
Chronic Disease
Female
Hand
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Motor Activity
Muscle Strength
Neuronal Plasticity
Range of Motion, Articular
Recovery of Function
Robotics
Stroke
Stroke Rehabilitation
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Video Games
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy