A new clothing robotic arm was developed for multi-joint coordinated upper limb rehabilitation after stroke. Patients after stroke will be recruited to evaluate the rehabilitation effectiveness of the device assisted upper limb rehabilitation. Both patients with chronic stroke and subacute stroke will be investigated.
A new robotic arm, named mobile exo-neuro-musculo-skeleton, was developed for upper limb rehabilitation. The system integrated the advantages of exoskeleton, soft robot, and neuromuscular electrical stimulation. It is noninvasive, light in weight, comfortable to wear, and can support the motions at the elbow, the wrist and the fingers. The device is a mobile system interfaced with a mobile app by a user. The device assisted upper limb rehabilitation will be applied to inpatients with subacute stroke. The rehabilitation effects on the motor restoration in the upper limb will be compared with the conventional physical and occupational therapies. The rehabilitation effects of the device assisted training also will be evaluated on patients with chronic stroke. The motor improvements after training will be investigated by comparing the pre- and post- clinical assessments. It is hypothesized that the device assisted upper limb rehabilitation will be effective in both subacute and chronic patients.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
45
The patients in the experimental and the other arms will receive 20 session device assisted upper limb rehabilitation. In each session, a subject will conduct multi-joint coordinated upper limb motions for 1 hour.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China
RECRUITINGFugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) of the Upper Limb before the training
Time frame: For each subject, the FMA score will be measured one day before the training.
Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) of the Upper Limb after the training
Time frame: For each subject, the FMA score will be measured one day after the 20-session training program.
Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) of the Upper Limb 3-month follow-up
Time frame: For each subject, the FMA score will be measured 3 months later after the last day of the training.
Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS)
Time frame: For each subject, the MAS score will be measure one day before the training, one day after the 20-session training program, and 3 months later after the last day of the training.
Action Research Arm Test (ARAT)
Time frame: For each subject, the ARAT score will be measure one day before the training, one day after the 20-session training program, and 3 months later after the last day of the training.
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