Active Rehabilitation
Development and evaluation of robotic rehabilitation devices assisting restoration of arm function after stroke

International research into robotic devices assisting arm rehabilitation after stroke has rapidly expanded in the last decades. This research provides promising results, mainly focused on improvement of motor impairments. Unfortunately, it is largely unknown which of the training principles that are enabled by the use of robotic devices are the most effective for this improvement. Besides this, the improvement does not translate to a general enhancement of functional use of the affected arm in daily life.

The active rehabilitation project wishes to resolve the question if robotics can actually improve the functional recovery of stroke patients. And if so, how to achieve the optimal results.

Several rehabilitation devices are developed to evaluate promising training principles in isolation. The Freebal is the first experimental device of the Active Rehalibilitation Project. It compensates for the gravitational pull on the human arm, reducing the force that stroke patients have to produce to lift and hold their arm. The amount of compensation can be adjusted freely. The Freebal is used to investigate the advantages of using gravity compensation in arm rehabilitation after stroke on neurophysiological, biomechanical and functional level. The Dampace is the second experimental device. It is an energy-dispersing exoskeleton for rehabilitation research, assessment and training. It offers controlled braking on each of the four axes of the shoulder and elbow, enabling specified resistance training of functional arm movements. The Dampace is used to examine the role of abnormal muscle coupling in limiting arm movements after stroke and the effect of resistance training on neurophysiological, biomechanical and functional aspects of arm movements of stroke patients.

This project has been developed by the Imove consortium.

Project partners within this consortium are Roessingh Research & Development, University of Twente, and BAAT medical engineering.

For more information: http://www.imovesupport.nl/

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