Upper limb robotic rehabilitation for chronic stroke survivors: a single-group preliminary study.
Ki Hun Cho, Mi-Ran Hong, Won-Kyung Song
PMID 29706710WHAT IT FOUND
After six weeks of assist-as-needed arm robot training, 21 high-functioning chronic stroke survivors had higher upper limb scores and faster reaching.
No control group was used, so the robot alone cannot be credited.
Key findings
01After six weeks, upper limb function scores increased: FMA from 47.90 to 51.52 points, BBT from 15.00 to 16.85 points, and ARAT from 37.52 to 41.14 points.
02Activities of daily living performance increased from 94.95 to 96.38 points on the Modified Barthel Index.
03Reaching speed increased in all six target directions, for example from 0.29 to 0.47 m/s for target 1 and from 0.14 to 0.33 m/s for target 5.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
There was no control group, so the authors state improvement cannot be attributed to the robot with certainty. Participants were high-functioning chronic stroke survivors, so results may not apply to people with more severe movement loss. The study measured outcomes only at baseline and after six weeks, so longer-term change is not shown. The training included an arm robot, assist-as-needed help, visual and auditory feedback, a trunk belt, and supervision by assistants, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.
Declared interests
The work was supported by the National Rehabilitation Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the robot alone caused the gains. The training also included visual and auditory feedback, a trunk belt, and supervision by assistants, and there was no control group, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.