scholarly journals Kinematic variables for upper limb rehabilitation robot and correlations with clinical scales: A review

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Sulaiman Mazlan ◽  
Hisyam Abdul Rahman ◽  
Yeong Che Fai ◽  
Babul Salam Ksm Kader Ibrahim ◽  
Muhamad Saif Huq

The paper presents a comprehensive review carried out to identify the kinematic variables used in upper body rehabilitation assisted by robotic devices to assess the motor impairment of stroke patients and investigates the correlation between the kinematic variables and the clinical scales. Twenty-nine kinematic variables have been studied from twenty-eight articles involving 738 subacute or chronic stroke patients. The movement of speed, distance, accuracy, peak speed, peak speed ratio and number of peak speed were found to be the most frequently used kinematic variables in the aforementioned studies. Seven out of twenty-eight included articles examined the correlations between the kinematic variables used with the clinical scales. Some kinematic variables seem to have a strong correlation with the clinical scales but most of the kinematic variables have a moderate or weak correlation value. The important kinematic variables for evaluating the motor performance during rehabilitation assisted by robotic devices have been discussed. A suitable selected set of kinematic variables and clinical scale can potentially enhance the correlation value, at the same time can predict the clinical score evaluated by physiotherapist during the rehabilitation program with a high degree of accuracy.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Fábio Marcon Alfieri ◽  
Caren da Silva Dias ◽  
Artur Cesar Aquino dos Santos ◽  
Linamara Rizzo Battistella

Robotic therapy has been gaining prominence in poststroke rehabilitation programs. An example of these devices is the G-EO System™, which simulates gait as well as other more complexes standards of gait such as the steps on stairs. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no studies that apply thermography as a tool to evaluate stroke patients who undertook rehabilitation programs with the aid of robotic devices. The patient IWPS undergoes sequelae of hemorrhagic stroke for 19 months and consequently hemiplegia, had scores of 93 points in the Fugl-Meyer scale, is undertaking a physical rehabilitation program for six months, has no complaints of discomfort due to thermic sensitivity imbalances between the plegic and the contralateral sides, and voluntarily reports that he realizes functionality improvements especially, according to his perception, due to the aid of the robotic therapy in his gait training with the G-EO System™. The thermographic images were captured by an infrared sensor FLIR T650SC. By analyzing the temperature differences between both hemispheres of the body, before, immediately after, and 30 minutes after a robotic therapy for gait training, we observed that the values firstly increased immediately after the training, but after the 30-minute rest an important thermoregulation was achieved.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 7055
Author(s):  
Donghwan Hwang ◽  
Joon-Ho Shin ◽  
Suncheol Kwon

Analysis of kinematic features related to clinical assessment scales may qualitatively improve the evaluation of upper extremity movements of stroke patients. We aimed to investigate kinematic features that could correlate the change in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score of stroke survivors through upper extremity robotic rehabilitation. We also analyzed whether changes in kinematic features by active and active-assisted robotic rehabilitation correlated differently with changes in FMA scores. Fifteen stroke patients participated in the upper extremity robotic rehabilitation program, and nine kinematic features were calculated from reach tasks for assessment. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were used to characterize correlations. Features representing movement speed were associated with changes in FMA scores for the group that used an active rehabilitation robot. In contrast, in the group that used an active-assisted rehabilitation robot, features representing movement smoothness were associated with changes in the FMA score. These estimates can be an important basis for kinematic analysis to complement clinical scales.


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 50-53
Author(s):  
Vesna Pausic ◽  
Grigorije Jovanovic ◽  
Svetlana Simic

Introduction. Robots have been used for rehabilitation purposes since the 1960s. The aim of this paper is to present the application of robotics in physical medicine and rehabilitation with special reference to robotic devices used in rehabilitation. Material and Methods. The paper uses literature related to the application of robotics in medicine and rehabilitation. The literature review was conducted using the following databases: Serbian Library Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System, Google Scholar, Science Citation Index, and portal of Croatian scientific journals ?Hrcak?. Development of robotics in rehabilitation. Nowadays, there are a great number of different robotic systems for rehabilitation. Robotics in rehabilitation is of utter importance because it works on the principle of neuroplasticity. Robots for lower limb rehabilitation. These robotic systems are most often in the form of exoskeletons. Robots for upper limb rehabilitation. Upper limb rehabilitation robots are therapeutic devices that help or provide support for arm or hand movements. Robot for upper body rehabilitation. Robot ?Tymo?. Conclusion. By using robots in physical medicine and neurorehabilitation, a faster and more complete functional recovery of the patient can be achieved.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Arantes ◽  
Nadja Bressan ◽  
Chris McGibbon

Abstract Background: Rehabilitation therapy plays an essential role in assisting stroke patients in regaining function. For this reason, many studies have been conducted to optimize rehabilitation interventions to improve effectiveness and efficiency. In this context, robotic devices for rehabilitation and assistance can be effective. Several studies have demonstrated that using a robot as a therapy tool can significantly reduce motor impairment. However, the slacking behavior, in which the patient lets the robot guide their movements even when they are capable of doing so by themselves, has been identified as a major barrier to reaching the full potential of robot-assist rehabilitation. This paper developed a novel electromyographical-based adaptive assist-as-needed (aAAN) controller aiming to avoid this slacking behavior. Methods: Five stroke patients were recruited to test the controller. Motor impairment status was documented with the Fugl-Meyer (FMA) assessment. In this experiment, horizontal arms tasks were conducted with the robot off and on to assess the subject’s performance in both scenarios. Velocity, time, and position were quantified as performance parameters during the training. Arm and shoulder EMG and electroencephalography (EEG) were used to assess the performance of the controller. Results: The cross-sectional results showed strong second-order relationships between Fugl-Meyer score and outcome measures, where performance metrics (path length and accuracy) were sensitive to change in participants with lower functional status. In comparison, speed and electrophysiological metrics (EMG and EEG) were more sensitive to change in participants with higher functional status. EEG signal amplitude increased when the robot suggested that the robot was inducing a challenge during the training tasks. Conclusion: The preliminary results were very promising; slacking was avoided for all participants during training with the aAAN controller.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 1650008 ◽  
Author(s):  
PIN-CHENG KUNG ◽  
CHOU-CHING K. LIN ◽  
SHU-MIN CHEN ◽  
MING-SHAUNG JU

Spastic hypertonia causes loss of range of motion (ROM) and contractures in patients with post-stroke hemiparesis. The pronation/supination of the forearm is an essential functional movement in daily activities. We developed a special module for a shoulder-elbow rehabilitation robot for the reduction and biomechanical assessment of pronator/supinator hypertonia of the forearm. The module consisted of a rotational drum driven by an AC servo motor and equipped with an encoder and a custom-made torque sensor. By properly switching the control algorithm between position control and torque control, a hybrid controller able to mimic a therapist’s manual stretching movements was designed. Nine stroke patients were recruited to validate the functions of the module. The results showed that the affected forearms had significant increases in the ROM after five cycles of stretching. Both the passive ROM and the average stiffness were highly correlated to the spasticity of the forearm flexor muscles as measured using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS). With the custom-made module and controller, this upper-limb rehabilitation robot may be able to aid physical therapists to reduce hypertonia and quantify biomechanical properties of the muscles for forearm rotation in stroke patients.


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