Custom-designed haptic training for restoring reaching ability to individuals with poststroke hemiparesis.
We present an initial test of a technique for retraining reaching skills in patients with poststroke hemiparesis, in which errors are temporarily magnified to encourage learning and compensation. Individuals with poststroke hemiparesis held a horizontal plane robotic manipulandum that could exert a variety of forces while recording patients' movements. We measured how well the patients recovered movement straightness in a single visit to the laboratory (approximately 3 h). Following training, we returned forces to zero for an additional 50 movements to discern if aftereffects lasted. We found that all subjects showed immediate benefit from the training, although 3 of the 10 subjects did not retain these benefits for the remainder of the experiment. We discuss how these approaches demonstrate great potential for rehabilitation tools that augment error to facilitate functional recovery.
Patton
James L
JL
Sensory Motor Performance Program, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 345 East Superior St, Room 1406, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. j-patton@northwestern.edu
Kovic
Mark
M
Mussa-Ivaldi
Ferdinando A
FA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001132:Arm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010291:Paresis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012371:Robotics; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation