Robotic therapy for the hemiplegic shoulder pain: a pilot study.
Ruthber Rodríguez Serrezuela, Mauricio Torres Quezada, Marcia Hernández Zayas and 3 others
PMID 32321536WHAT IT FOUND
Robotic shoulder therapy was associated with faster pain relief and larger gains in shoulder movement than conventional therapy, but this small pilot does not prove it works.
Key findings
01Shoulder pain in the robotic therapy group decreased until it disappeared in 20 sessions.
02Robotic therapy produced larger increases in shoulder range-of-motion degrees than conventional therapy, with robotic flexion from 62.5 ± 39.5 to 160 ± 19 degrees and abduction from 57.5 ± 33 to 118.7 ± 26 degrees.
03Robotic therapy was more consistent than conventional therapy in reducing spasticity.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 16 patients were studied, so chance findings cannot be excluded. The paper does not clearly name a single primary outcome. The conventional group received thermotherapy, lymphatic massage and kinesitherapy, so the study does not isolate the effect of the robot from the conventional therapy package. The outcome assessor was blinded, but patients and therapists were not described as blinded. The paper reports many outcomes, including pain, spasticity, range of motion, muscle strength and satisfaction, so some positive findings may be chance.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Corporacion Universitaria del Huila. No other conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that robotic therapy is proven better than conventional therapy for hemiplegic shoulder pain. This was a small pilot with multiple outcomes and no clear primary outcome, so the positive results need confirmation.