The Role of Robotic Path Assistance and Weight Support in Facilitating 3D Movements in Individuals With Poststroke Hemiparesis.

Journal: Neurorehabilitation and neural repair
PMID: 31959040

Abstract

. High-intensity repetitive training is challenging to provide poststroke. Robotic approaches can facilitate such training by unweighting the limb and/or by improving trajectory control, but the extent to which these types of assistance are necessary is not known. . The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which robotic path assistance and/or weight support facilitate repetitive 3D movements in high functioning and low functioning subjects with poststroke arm motor impairment relative to healthy controls. . Seven healthy controls and 18 subjects with chronic poststroke right-sided hemiparesis performed 300 repetitions of a 3D circle-drawing task using a 3D Cable-driven Arm Exoskeleton (CAREX) robot. Subjects performed 100 repetitions each with path assistance alone, weight support alone, and path assistance plus weight support in a random order over a single session. Kinematic data from the task were used to compute the normalized error and speed as well as the speed-error relationship. . Low functioning stroke subjects (Fugl-Meyer Scale score = 16.6 ± 6.5) showed the lowest error with path assistance plus weight support, whereas high functioning stroke subjects (Fugl-Meyer Scale score = 59.6 ± 6.8) moved faster with path assistance alone. When both speed and error were considered together, low functioning subjects significantly reduced their error and increased their speed but showed no difference across the robotic conditions. . Robotic assistance can facilitate repetitive task performance in individuals with severe arm motor impairment, but path assistance provides little advantage over weight support alone. Future studies focusing on antigravity arm movement control are warranted poststroke.

Authors

  • Preeti Raghavan
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Seda Bilaloglu
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Syed Zain Ali
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Xin Jin
    Department of Hepatic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
  • Viswanath Aluru
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Megan C Buckley
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Alvin Tang
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Arash Yousefi
    New York University, New York, NY, USA.
  • Jennifer Stone
    Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
  • Sunil K Agrawal
  • Ying Lu
    Department of Endocrinology, Institute of Translational Medicine, Health Science Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.

Keywords

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals