Or does your clinic think what they are doing is already better than this?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889014002085
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Check access- DOI: 10.1016/j.robot.2014.09.023
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Highlights
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- We developed a proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) integrated robotic ankle-foot system for post stroke rehabilitation.
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- It is the first time that PNF method has been used in ankle spasticity/contracture rehabilitation.
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- Five able-bodied subjects participated in the experiments and five stroke patients were recruited with a six-week PNF treatment.
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- The proposed system can offer more effective treatment than passive stretching in improvement of both passive and active joint properties.
Abstract
Ankle
joint with spasticity and/or contracture can severely disable the
mobility and the independence of stroke survivors. In this paper, we
developed a proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) integrated
robotic ankle-foot system for post stroke rehabilitation. The system
consists of a robotic platform and a control system with graphic user
interface. We employ five normal subjects to test the reliability and
feasibility of the proposed system. To validate the effectiveness of the
PNF integrated robotic system, we recruit five stroke patients and
carry out a six-week PNF treatment. Treatment outcome was evaluated
quantitatively in passive and active joint properties. The passive
hysteresis loop shows that the maximum dorsiflexion angle increases from
32.9°±1.5° to 42.0°±3.2° (p=0.014) while the resistance torque decreases from 45.6 Nm±5.8 Nm to 29.8 Nm±4.4 Nm (p=0.019). The active joint properties are improved significantly with the training score increasing from 5.7±0.9 to 8.1±0.6, and getting close to that of normal subjects (9.5±0.3).
In addition, muscle strength has a rising trend as time goes on. The
results demonstrate that the proposed PNF integrated robotic ankle-foot
rehabilitation system is effective in improving ankle spasticity and/or
contracture and is a promising solution in clinical rehabilitation.
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