title: Movement smoothness changes during stroke recovery.
abstract: Smoothness is characteristic of coordinated human movements, and stroke patients' movements seem to grow more smooth with recovery. We used a robotic therapy device to analyze five different measures of movement smoothness in the hemiparetic arm of 31 patients recovering from stroke. Four of the five metrics showed general increases in smoothness for the entire patient population. However, according to the fifth metric, the movements of patients with recent stroke grew less smooth over the course of therapy. This pattern was reproduced in a computer simulation of recovery based on submovement blending, suggesting that progressive blending of submovements underlies stroke recovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. brrohre@sandia.gov
authors.forename: Brandon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rohrer
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fasoli
authors.forename: Hermano Igo
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Krebs
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.forename: Walter R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Frontera
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hogan
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010291:Paresis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012371:Robotics; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013997:Time Factors