Use of an arm weight-bearing combined with upper-limb reaching apparatus to facilitate motor paralysis recovery in an incomplete spinal cord injury patient: a single case report.
Takashi Hoei, Kazumi Kawahira, Hidefumi Fukuda and 3 others
PMID 28210068WHAT IT FOUND
In a single man with incomplete spinal cord injury, upper-limb function improved on all measures except wrist flexor tone.
Shoulder gains came during periods that also included repetitive facilitation exercise, so Reaching Robot alone cannot be credited.
Key findings
01The patient improved on all outcome measures except Modified Ashworth Scale of the wrist flexor.
02Shoulder flexion range improved after the B1 and B2 periods, but those periods also included repetitive facilitation exercise combined with continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation, so Reaching Robot alone cannot be credited.
03No observable adverse effects were reported for either Reaching Robot training or repetitive facilitation exercise combined with continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation.
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What it does not show
The report describes a single patient, so it cannot establish that Reaching Robot works. The authors call the results preliminary. The B periods combined Reaching Robot with repetitive facilitation exercise and continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The changes included one point on some outcome scales and 10 degrees or 20 degrees on range of motion.
Declared interests
One author received study funding and the loan of the apparatus from Yasukawa Electric Co.; another author is an adviser to Yasukawa Electric Co.; another author received study funding from Yasukawa Electric Co.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Reaching Robot alone caused recovery. The patient also received repetitive facilitation exercise combined with continuous low amplitude neuromuscular electrical stimulation, including during the periods that included Reaching Robot, and the report describes a single patient.