Health & Medicine
Post-Stroke Rehabilitation Now Under Robots
Brooke Miller
First Posted: Oct 02, 2012 05:49 AM EDT
Stroke is the third leading cause of death and of long term disability in the U.S. Statistics according to National Stroke Association state that nearly four million stroke or brain attack patients in the U.S are still living with the after effects.
One of the main concerns after a stroke is to be able to stand on your own feet. And stroke rehabilitation helps the victim re-learn skills.
Generally the stroke rehabilitation consists of a dedicated team that includes the physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, recreation therapists, caregivers and others.
But the researchers from the University of Calgary have come up with something innovative. They have added a robot to help identify and customize post stroke therapy.
These rehabilitation robots improve detection of post stroke impairments and can enhance the type and intensity of therapy required for recovery.
The details of this study were presented on Oct. 1 at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
For the study the researchers focused at nearly 185 subjects of them 87 were recovering from stroke and 98 were unaffected by a stroke. They noticed that tests using a robot better measure patients' sense of limb position, speed and direction of limb movement. These subjects were assessed 15 days after the stroke.
"For years, therapists have known that limb awareness is very important to predicting a person's outcomes after stroke. Yet we have never before been able to quantify it," says lead researcher Dr. Sean Dukelow. "Identifying these deficits opens the door to the next step: how do we treat it"
Till date the rehabilitation experts have relied on judgment and subjective rating scales to assess impairment after stroke. But now these measurements have been standardized by robotic technology.
Awareness and control of our limbs' location allows us to do everyday things like reach for a coffee cup while watching television," Dukelow said.
In the Calgary study, a robotic frame moved each patient's stroke-affected arm at a preset speed and direction while they attempted to mirror its movement with their unaffected arm. Participants were not able to rely on their vision for assistance.
Dukelow and his team found out that, 20 percent of the stroke patients failed to acknowledge that the robot had moved their affected arm;70 percent of stroke patients took significantly longer to react to the robot's movements; 78 per cent of stroke patients had significantly impaired sense of movement direction; 69 per cent had diminished ability to match movement speed.
"Impaired limb function is a serious problem for people with stroke," says Dr. Mark Bayley, co chair of the Canadian Stroke Congress and Medical Director of the Neurological Rehabilitation Program at Toronto Rehab. "It can prevent people from performing small daily tasks that them some measure of independence."
The final goal of precise assessment is more patient-specific treatment, a concept Dukelow calls "personalized medicine." Ideally, robotics will be used to guide patients through the repetitive movements and personalized treatment plans required to remap the brain and restore function.
"Rehabilitation is an important part of recovering from stroke," says Ian Joiner, the director of stroke for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, who is also a physiotherapist. "Robotic technology is very useful supplement to traditional rehab. The end result -- the one we're all working toward -- is better patient care and improved recovery."
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First Posted: Oct 02, 2012 05:49 AM EDT
Stroke is the third leading cause of death and of long term disability in the U.S. Statistics according to National Stroke Association state that nearly four million stroke or brain attack patients in the U.S are still living with the after effects.
One of the main concerns after a stroke is to be able to stand on your own feet. And stroke rehabilitation helps the victim re-learn skills.
Generally the stroke rehabilitation consists of a dedicated team that includes the physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, recreation therapists, caregivers and others.
But the researchers from the University of Calgary have come up with something innovative. They have added a robot to help identify and customize post stroke therapy.
These rehabilitation robots improve detection of post stroke impairments and can enhance the type and intensity of therapy required for recovery.
The details of this study were presented on Oct. 1 at the Canadian Stroke Congress.
For the study the researchers focused at nearly 185 subjects of them 87 were recovering from stroke and 98 were unaffected by a stroke. They noticed that tests using a robot better measure patients' sense of limb position, speed and direction of limb movement. These subjects were assessed 15 days after the stroke.
"For years, therapists have known that limb awareness is very important to predicting a person's outcomes after stroke. Yet we have never before been able to quantify it," says lead researcher Dr. Sean Dukelow. "Identifying these deficits opens the door to the next step: how do we treat it"
Till date the rehabilitation experts have relied on judgment and subjective rating scales to assess impairment after stroke. But now these measurements have been standardized by robotic technology.
Awareness and control of our limbs' location allows us to do everyday things like reach for a coffee cup while watching television," Dukelow said.
In the Calgary study, a robotic frame moved each patient's stroke-affected arm at a preset speed and direction while they attempted to mirror its movement with their unaffected arm. Participants were not able to rely on their vision for assistance.
Dukelow and his team found out that, 20 percent of the stroke patients failed to acknowledge that the robot had moved their affected arm;70 percent of stroke patients took significantly longer to react to the robot's movements; 78 per cent of stroke patients had significantly impaired sense of movement direction; 69 per cent had diminished ability to match movement speed.
"Impaired limb function is a serious problem for people with stroke," says Dr. Mark Bayley, co chair of the Canadian Stroke Congress and Medical Director of the Neurological Rehabilitation Program at Toronto Rehab. "It can prevent people from performing small daily tasks that them some measure of independence."
The final goal of precise assessment is more patient-specific treatment, a concept Dukelow calls "personalized medicine." Ideally, robotics will be used to guide patients through the repetitive movements and personalized treatment plans required to remap the brain and restore function.
"Rehabilitation is an important part of recovering from stroke," says Ian Joiner, the director of stroke for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, who is also a physiotherapist. "Robotic technology is very useful supplement to traditional rehab. The end result -- the one we're all working toward -- is better patient care and improved recovery."
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone