Robotic therapy for chronic motor impairments after stroke: Follow-up results.
OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of robotic rehabilitation in persons with chronic motor impairments after stroke and to examine whether improvements in motor abilities were sustained 4 months after the end of therapy.


METHODS
Pretest-posttest design.


METHODS
Rehabilitation hospital, outpatient care.


METHODS
Volunteer sample of 42 persons with persistent hemiparesis from a single, unilateral stroke within the past 1 to 5 years.


METHODS
Robotic therapy for the paretic upper limb consisted of either sensorimotor active-assistive exercise, or progressive-resistive training during repetitive, planar reaching tasks, 3 times a week for 6 weeks.


METHODS
Modified Ashworth Scale, Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), Motor Status Scale (MSS) score, and Medical Research Council motor power score.


RESULTS
No significant differences were found among pretreatment clinical evaluations. Statistically significant gains from admission to discharge and from admission to follow-up (P<.05) were found on the FMA, MSS score for shoulder and elbow, and motor power score.


CONCLUSIONS
Short-term, goal-directed robotic therapy can significantly improve motor abilities of the exercised limb segments in persons with chronic stroke that are sustained 4 months after discharge. This suggests that motor recovery can be enhanced by repetitive exercise training more than 1 year after stroke.
Fasoli
Susan E
SE
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 3-147, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. sfasoli@mit.edu
Krebs
Hermano I
HI
Stein
Joel
J
Frontera
Walter R
WR
Hughes
Richard
R
Hogan
Neville
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010291:Paresis / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D034941:Upper Extremity