Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Distal arm training involves activation of nerves and muscles in each segment
of the upper limb, and consequently results in proximal as well as distal muscle
activity. Furthermore, while training with end-effector based robots, subjects used
their entire arm to perform the required tasks, thus involving elbow and shoulder,
typically to stabilize the arm. Training distal segments of the upper limb may thus
help improve arm function in a more homogeneous way and may lead to greater
improvement in ADL.
Altogether, our results illustrate the feasibility of improving control of hand
and finger motion as well as force control by training with dedicated robotic
devices, which are compact, easy to use, and can thus be easily transported and
installed. Although training of hand and fingers is limited to stroke subjects with
some remaining motor function in these segments, restoring fine hand control,
precision and power grip are crucial tasks that could have a significant impact
on the quality of life of stroke survivors. In addition, the observed transfer from
improvement of hand to arm function opens horizons for the development of
new robotic devices focusing on hand and fingers. This could pave the way for
a new generation of simple rehabilitation robots to be used as standard therapy
and assessment tools in rehabilitation centers or directly in patients' homes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was carried out at the National University of Singapore, Singapore
(grant R265-000-168-112) and at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
Clinical studies were carried out at Simon Fraser University and at Tan Tock Seng
Hospital, Singapore. O. Lambercy and R. Gassert were supported by the NCCR
Neural Plasticity and Repair, Swiss National Science Foundation. E. Burdet's
involvement was funded in part by the EU FP7 HUMOUR project. The authors
thank Vineet B. Jonhson for his help in defining the experimental protocol and
recruiting stroke patients.
References
Bohannon, R. and Smith, M. (1987). Interrater reliability of a modified ashworth scale of
muscle spasticity,
Physical Therapy
67(2)
, pp. 206-207.
Bouzit, M., Burdea, G., Popescu, G. and Boian, R. (2002). The Rutgers Master II: New design
force-feedback glove,
IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
7(2)
, pp. 256-263.
Cruz, E., Waldinger, H. and Kamper, D. (2005). Kinetic and kinematic workspaces of the
index finger following stroke,
Brain
128
, pp. 1112-1121.
Dovat, L., Lambercy, O., Gassert, R., Maeder, T., Milner, T., Teo, C. and Burdet, E. (2008).
HandCARE: A cable-actuated rehabilitation system to train hand function after stroke,
IEEE Transaction in Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
16(6)
, pp. 582-591.
Dovat, L., Lambercy, O., Johnson, V., Salman, B., Wong, S., Gassert, R., Burdet, E., Teo, C.
and Milner, T. (2007). A cable driven robotic system to train finger function after stroke,
Proc. of the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotic Rehabilitation (ICORR)
, pp. 222-227.
