A robotic device as a sensitive quantitative toll to assess upper limb impairments in stroke patients

Details

Supervisors

Detrembleur, Christine ; Lejeune, Thierry ; Stoquart, Gaëtan

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de la motricité, orientation générale

Abstract

Objectives - To compare kinematic indices in age-matched healthy subjects and stroke patients, by evaluating various tasks performed with a robotic device, to provide an objective and standardised protocol to assess upper limb impairments in stroke patients. Design - Prospective cohort study. Subjects - Age-matched healthy subjects (n=10) and stroke patients (n=10). Methods - Various kinematic indices were analysed from three randomly assigned tasks that were performed by the affected arm in stroke patients and the dominant arm in healthy subjects. These tasks, which were composed of large amplitude, targeted and geometrical movements, were standardised and performed with the ReaPLAN robotic device. Results - For large-amplitude movements, the stroke patients’ path lengths were less constant in amplitude, less rectilinear and less smooth than healthy subjects (p<0.001). For the targeted movements, the stroke patients’ path lengths were less rectilinear than the healthy subjects (p<0.001). For the geometrical movements, the stroke patients had greater difficulty drawing the requested shapes compared with the healthy subjects (p<0.01). Conclusion - Our study proposes an objective and standardised protocol to assess stroke patients’ upper limbs with any robotic device. We suggest that further randomised controlled trials could use this quantitative tool to assess the efficacy of treatments as robot-assisted therapy.