Haptic-based neurorehabilitation in post-stroke patients: a feasibility prospective multicentre trial for robotics hand rehabilitation.

Its for recovering the hand, your therapists should be all over this.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/cmmm/aip/895492.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGBfm2RzduXzb0fujBc-zuA033JkUGl6g&oi=scholaralrt
ABSTRACT
Background: Haptic robots allow the exploitation of known motor learning mechanisms,
representing a valuable option for motor treatment after stroke. The aim of this feasibility
multicentre study was to test the clinical efficacy of a haptic prototype, for the recovery of hand
function after stroke.
Methods: A prospective pilot clinical trial was planned on 15 consecutive patients enrolled in 3
rehabilitation centre in Italy. All the framework features of the haptic robot (e.g. control loop,
external communication, graphic rendering for virtual reality) were implemented into a real–time
Matlab/Simulink environment, controlling a five-bar linkage able to provide forces up to 20 [N] at
the end effector, used for finger and hand rehabilitation therapies. Clinical (i.e. Fugl-Meyer upper
extremity scale; nine hold pegboard test) and kinematics (i.e. time; velocity; jerk metric; normalized
jerk of standard movements) outcomes were assessed before and after treatment to detect changes in
patients’ motor performance. Reorganization of cortical activation was detected in one patient by
fMRI.
Results and conclusions: All patients showed significant improvements in both clinical and
kinematic outcomes. Additionally, fMRI results suggest that the proposed approach may promote a
better cortical activation in the brain.