Automated motor rehabilitation after stroke

Abstract EN

Purpose: Successful motor rehabilitation of stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) subjects require an intensive and task-specific therapy approach.

Budget constrains limit a hand-to-hand therapy approach, so that intelligent machines may offer a solution to further promote motor recovery and to better understand motor control.

This new field of automated or robot-assisted motor rehabilitation has emerged since the nineties.

Recent Findings: The following article will present clinically viable devices for the upper and lower extremity rehabilitation.

The MiT-Manus and the MIME robot, enabling an unrestricted uni- or bilateral shoulder and elbow-movement, consistently proved superior on the motor impairment level.

The ARM guide, assisting reaching in a straight-line trajectory, and the Bi-Manu-Track, enabling the bilateral practice of a forearm and wrist movement, are currently tested.

For gait rehabilitation after stroke, the electromechanical gait trainer GT 1 has proven effective as compared to treadmill training with BWS.

The Lokomat®, consisting of a treadmill and a powered exoskelcton.

lessened the therapeutic effort as compared to manually assisted treadmill training in SCi patients.

Future developments will sec more degrees of freedom, improved man-machine interaction and the implementation of virtual reality.

Summary: Technical possibilities arc one aspect, but multi-eentre trails and the consideration of unsubstantiated fears among therapists of being replaced by the machines will decide on the successful implementation of this most promising field for the benefit of patients.