Article

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of robot-mediated therapy targeted at
the motor recovery of the upper limb in chronic patients following neurological
injury. DESIGN: Pre-post treatment study. SUBJECTS: Twenty patients were enrolled
in the study. METHODS: Robot-mediated therapy was provided to chronic hemiparetic
patients (acute event had occurred at least one year prior to the study), 3 times
a week, for 6 weeks. The therapy consisted of goal-directed, planar reaching
tasks that exercised the hemiparetic shoulder and elbow. The items for the
shoulder and elbow of Motor Status Score, Modified Ashworth Scale and range of
motion were used as outcome measures. RESULTS: Statistically significant
improvements before and after treatment were found in each outcome measure. A
3-month follow-up evaluation indicated that patients maintained the improvements.
CONCLUSION: The results confirm that robot-mediated therapy, through short-term,
but intensive, repetitive and goal-directed trials, contributes to a decrease in
the upper limb's motor disability in people with a chronic neurological injury by
reducing motor impairment and shoulder pain. The treatment was well accepted and
tolerated by patients. No adverse events occurred.

Langue : ANGLAIS