Robot-assisted and conventional therapies produce distinct rehabilitative trends in stroke survivors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Comparing the efficacy of alternative therapeutic strategies for the rehabilitation of motor function in chronically impaired individuals is often inconclusive. For example, a recent randomized clinical trial (RCT) compared robot-assisted vs. conventional therapy in 77 patients who had had chronic motor impairment after a cerebrovascular accident. While patients assigned to robotic therapy had greater improvements in the primary outcome measure (change in score on the upper extremity section of the Fugl-Meyer assessment), the absolute difference between therapies was small, which left the clinical relevance in question.

Methods

Here we revisit that study to test whether the multidimensional rehabilitative response of these patients can better distinguish between t

SUBMITTER: Valero-Cuevas FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5057463 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature