New research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles shows that robot-assisted therapy is effective in improving arm and shoulder mobility in patients who are paralyzed as a result of a stroke.
According to the study, 60 patients with hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body) due to a stroke were given physical therapy. Half of the group received robot-assisted therapy using a Reo Therapy System by Motorika Ltd. (Caesarea, Israel), which repeatedly moves the forearm in various pre-programmed directions. The other half spent the same amount of time undergoing traditional rehabilitation.
According to the study:
Patients on robotic therapy showed marked improvement in two measures of upper extremity function: the Fugl-Meyer flexor synergy score, a 0 to 12 scale with higher numbers reflecting recovery of voluntary arm movement; and the Fugl-Meyer shoulder/elbow/forearm score, a 0 to 36 scale with higher numbers reflecting recovery of motor function in the shoulder, elbow and forearm.
The study suggested that the success of robot-assisted rehabilitation may be due to the fact that, unlike human physical therapists, robots can carry out repetitive exercises with exactly the right movement pattern every time.
Article from the AHA/ASA 2011 International Stroke Conference…
Interview with Dr. Kayoko Takahashi (lead author of study)…
Audio clips of comments from Dr. Pamela Duncan from the AHA…
Motorika homepage…
