Lee MJ, Lee JH, Lee SM. Effects of robot-assisted therapy on upper extremity function and activities of daily living in hemiplegic patients: A single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial.
Technol Health Care 2019;
26:659-666. [PMID:
30124459 DOI:
10.3233/thc-181336]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Many robots can induce passive movements and passive resistance movements to facilitate recovery of upper-extremity function, but it is rare to find robots that can also enable active resistance movements.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of robot-assisted therapy on upper-extremity function and the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia.
METHODS
Thirty patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, with 15 patients in each group. All subjects underwent general occupational therapy consisting of five 30-min sessions per week for 8 weeks, in addition to 30 min of robot-assisted therapy for the experimental group and 30 additional min of general occupational therapy for the control group for each session.
RESULTS
Both the experimental and control groups showed a statistically significant increase in post-treatment Fugl-Meyer assessment and modified Barthel index scores compared to the pre-treatment scores. Intergroup comparisons revealed that the experimental group showed a statistically significant greater increase in scores for all assessments than the control group did (p< 0.05).
CONCLUSION
The findings from this study showed that combining robot-assisted therapy with general occupational therapy may enhance upper-extremity function and the ability to perform ADL in patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia compared to those obtained with general occupational therapy alone.
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