Feasibility of integrating FES grasp assistance with a task-oriented robot-assisted therapy environment: A case study

Reaching-to-grasp is a vital skill to be relearned following stroke. Robotic aided stroke rehabilitation reduces motor impairment but has is limited in improving ADL function. We present a case study examining the feasibility of a custom developed glove to provide grasp assistance in a robotic therapy environment dedicated to the practice of real activities, ADLER. The case study consists of three subjects, a high functioning, and a low functioning stroke subject and a healthy subject. Results suggest that the glove system was able to providing grasp-assistance and that it was capable of collecting grasp aperture information during reach to grasp activities.

[1]  S. Schaal,et al.  Segmentation of endpoint trajectories does not imply segmented control , 1999, Experimental Brain Research.

[2]  J F Soechting,et al.  Matching object size by controlling finger span and hand shape. , 1997, Somatosensory & motor research.

[3]  M. Goodale,et al.  A model of the coupling between grip aperture and hand transport during human prehension , 2005, Experimental Brain Research.

[4]  M. Woollacott,et al.  Motor Control: Translating Research into Clinical Practice , 2006 .

[5]  D. Reinkensmeyer,et al.  Alterations in reaching after stroke and their relation to movement direction and impairment severity. , 2002, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[6]  William S. Harwin,et al.  Upper Limb Robot Mediated Stroke Therapy—GENTLE/s Approach , 2003, Auton. Robots.

[7]  C.G. Burgar,et al.  Evidence for improved muscle activation patterns after retraining of reaching movements with the MIME robotic system in subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.

[8]  E. Brenner,et al.  A new view on grasping. , 1999, Motor control.

[9]  M.J. Johnson,et al.  Development of ADLER: The Activities of Daily Living Exercise Robot , 2006, The First IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2006. BioRob 2006..

[10]  James E. Lebensohn,et al.  Handbook of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation , 1950 .

[11]  D. Wade,et al.  Enhanced physical therapy improves recovery of arm function after stroke. A randomised controlled trial. , 1992, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[12]  Sung Ho Jang,et al.  Cortical reorganization induced by task-oriented training in chronic hemiplegic stroke patients , 2003, Neuroreport.

[13]  Robert Riener,et al.  ARMin - robot for rehabilitation of the upper extremities , 2006, Proceedings 2006 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. ICRA 2006..

[14]  M. Levin.  Interjoint coordination during pointing movements is disrupted in spastic hemiparesis. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[15]  Robert C. Wagenaar,et al.  Therapy Impact on Functional Recovery in Stroke Rehabilitation , 1999 .

[16]  C. A. Trombly,et al.  Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction , 1989 .

[17]  L. Tickle-Degnen,et al.  A kinematic study of contextual effects on reaching performance in persons with and without stroke: influences of object availability. , 2000, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

[18]  M. Levin,et al.  Compensatory strategies for reaching in stroke. , 2000, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[19]  Margaret A. Finley,et al.  Short-duration robotic therapy in stroke patients with severe upper-limb motor impairment. , 2005, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.