Robots Improve Stroke Rehab

Following a stroke, patients may not immediately know the full extent of their impairments. It could take days or weeks for them to discover limitations.

Rehabilitation robots may be able to more quickly identify impairments such as diminished movement in one arm, alerting physical therapists so they can better focus post-stroke therapy, a recent study has determined.

Discuss rehabilitation options with your doctor.

Sean Dukelow, MD, FRCPC, assistant professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Calgary Medical School, said that therapists have long known that limb awareness is important to predicting outcomes after stroke, though he said it has been difficult to "quantify it" compared to the usually used subjective rating scales.

Better identifying limitations allows therapists to instead focus their attention on better treating impairments through focused programs.

During the study researchers followed 185 participants, of which 87 were recovering from a stroke. All of the patients used a robotic frame, which moved a patient's stroke-affected arm at a preset speed and direction as they attempted to mirror the movement with the unaffected arm. They could not use their vision during the test, which occurred about 15 days following the stroke.

Investigators found that the use of rehabilitation robots were better able to measure sense of limb position, speed and direction of limb movement in patients.

They determined that 20 percent of stroke patients failed to acknowledge that the robot had moved their affected arm, and 70 percent took significantly longer to react to the movement of the robot.

About 78 percent of stroke patients were found to have a significantly impaired sense of movement direction, while 69 percent had substantial difficulty in matching the movement speed with their other arm.

Investigators indicated that the precise assessments through robot rehab can lead to more patient-specific treatments or "personalized medicine," with robots assisting patients perform repetitive motions that assist in remapping the brain and restoring function.

The study was recently presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress 2012 in Calgary.