Aaron Yurkewich, Sara Ortega, José Sanchez, Rosalie H Wang, Etienne Burdet
{"title":"Integrating hand exoskeletons into goal-oriented clinic and home stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation.","authors":"Aaron Yurkewich, Sara Ortega, José Sanchez, Rosalie H Wang, Etienne Burdet","doi":"10.1177/20556683221130970","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Robotic exoskeletons are emerging as rehabilitation and assistive technologies that simultaneously restore function and enable independence for people with disabilities.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>We investigated the feasibility and orthotic and restorative effects of an exoskeleton-supported goal-directed rehabilitation program for people with hand impairments after stroke or Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A single-arm case-series feasibility study was conducted using a wearable untethered hand exoskeleton during goal-directed therapy programs with in-clinic and at-home components. Therapists trained stroke and SCI patients to use a hand exoskeleton during rehabilitation exercises, activities of daily living and patient-selected goals. Each patient received a 1-hour in-clinic training session on five consecutive days, then took the exoskeleton home for two consecutive days to perform therapist-recommended tasks. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and the Box and Block Test (BBT) were administered at <i>baseline,</i> after <i>in-clinic</i> therapy and after <i>home</i> use, with and again without wearing the exoskeleton. The System Usability Scale (SUS), Motor Activity Log, and Fugl-Meyer Assessment were also administered to assess the intervention's acceptability, adherence, usability and effectiveness.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Four stroke patients (Chedoke McMaster Stage of Hand 2-4) and one SCI patient (ASIA C8 Motor Stage 1) 23 ± 19 months post-injury wore the hand exoskeleton to perform 280 ± 23 exercise repetitions in the clinic and additional goal-oriented tasks at home. The patients performed their own goals and the dexterity task with higher performance following the 7-days therapy program in comparison to baseline for both exoskeleton-assisted (ΔGAS: 18 ± 10, ΔBBT: 1 ± 5) and unassisted (ΔGAS: 14 ± 14, ΔBBT: 3 ± 4) assessments. Therapists and patients provided 'good' SUS ratings of 78 ± 6 and no harmful events were reported.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The exoskeleton-supported stroke and SCI therapy program with in-clinic and at-home training components was feasible.</p>","PeriodicalId":2,"journal":{"name":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","volume":" ","pages":"20556683221130970"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9535266/pdf/","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"ACS Applied Bio Materials","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20556683221130970","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, BIOMATERIALS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
Introduction: Robotic exoskeletons are emerging as rehabilitation and assistive technologies that simultaneously restore function and enable independence for people with disabilities.
Aim: We investigated the feasibility and orthotic and restorative effects of an exoskeleton-supported goal-directed rehabilitation program for people with hand impairments after stroke or Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).
Method: A single-arm case-series feasibility study was conducted using a wearable untethered hand exoskeleton during goal-directed therapy programs with in-clinic and at-home components. Therapists trained stroke and SCI patients to use a hand exoskeleton during rehabilitation exercises, activities of daily living and patient-selected goals. Each patient received a 1-hour in-clinic training session on five consecutive days, then took the exoskeleton home for two consecutive days to perform therapist-recommended tasks. Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) and the Box and Block Test (BBT) were administered at baseline, after in-clinic therapy and after home use, with and again without wearing the exoskeleton. The System Usability Scale (SUS), Motor Activity Log, and Fugl-Meyer Assessment were also administered to assess the intervention's acceptability, adherence, usability and effectiveness.
Results: Four stroke patients (Chedoke McMaster Stage of Hand 2-4) and one SCI patient (ASIA C8 Motor Stage 1) 23 ± 19 months post-injury wore the hand exoskeleton to perform 280 ± 23 exercise repetitions in the clinic and additional goal-oriented tasks at home. The patients performed their own goals and the dexterity task with higher performance following the 7-days therapy program in comparison to baseline for both exoskeleton-assisted (ΔGAS: 18 ± 10, ΔBBT: 1 ± 5) and unassisted (ΔGAS: 14 ± 14, ΔBBT: 3 ± 4) assessments. Therapists and patients provided 'good' SUS ratings of 78 ± 6 and no harmful events were reported.
Conclusions: The exoskeleton-supported stroke and SCI therapy program with in-clinic and at-home training components was feasible.
期刊介绍:
ACS Applied Bio Materials is an interdisciplinary journal publishing original research covering all aspects of biomaterials and biointerfaces including and beyond the traditional biosensing, biomedical and therapeutic applications.
The journal is devoted to reports of new and original experimental and theoretical research of an applied nature that integrates knowledge in the areas of materials, engineering, physics, bioscience, and chemistry into important bio applications. The journal is specifically interested in work that addresses the relationship between structure and function and assesses the stability and degradation of materials under relevant environmental and biological conditions.