Stroke often results in impairments of upper extremity, including coordination deficits, reducing of force, weakness and changes in the kinetic and kinematic workspace of fingers with 75% of stroke survivors facing difficulties performing activities of daily living. The ability to oppose the fingertip of the thumb to each fingertip of the same hand is the basis of grasping objects of various sizes and operating tools and assessing and improving distal upper extremity function is of primary goal in the rehabilitation of stroke survivors. Moreover, repetitive movement practice seems to be crucial for maximizing therapeutic benefits. Recent studies, proposed an engineered glove to assess motor performance during finger-to-thumb opposition movements and to provide objective and reproducible measures. The same tool can be integrated with Virtual Reality and serious games to provide repetitive practice of activities improving motivation and adherence with therapy. the investigators developed a new integrated glove and virtual reality to facilitate the recovery of hand functionality. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of the engineered glove in the assessment and treatment of hand dysfunction in people with Stroke.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
30
Each subject will undergo 10 rehabilitation sessions 2-3 times a week, lasting around 30'.
Each subject will undergo 10 rehabilitation sessions 2-3 times a week, lasting around 30'.
Change in Box and Blocks Test
Block and Box Test assesses grasp and transport and upper limb functional disorders and measures unilateral gross manual dexterity.
Time frame: baseline- immediately after the intervention
Change in 9-Hole Peg Test
It measures finger dexterity. Patient takes the pegs from a container and place them into the holes as quickly as possible.
Time frame: baseline- immediately after the intervention
Change in Manual Ability Measurement
It is a self reported questionnaire to rate perceived manual ability on a scale ranging from 0 (impossible to complete any of activity cited) to 100 (every activity cited is accomplished without any difficulty).
Time frame: baseline- immediately after the intervention
Change in the instrumented indexes
Subjects perform a repetitive finger-to-thumb opposition sequence (index, medium, ring and little finger) with their affected hand at maximal velocity and with the two hands simultaneously at a frequency of 2 Hz paced by a metronome. The testing session includes one 60sec trial per condition. They wear a sensor-engineered glove on both hands to quantitatively assess finger motor performance
Time frame: baseline- immediately after the intervention
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