Improving the ROM of wrist movements in stroke patients by means of a haptic wrist robot

Abstract

A 3 DoFs haptic wrist robot is used to measure and/or assist the movement of the wrist on three axes: flexion/extension (F/E), abduction/adduction (A/A), pronation/ supination (P/S). An assistance scheme based on the widely used progressive splinting therapy is proposed and its efficacy is tested within a group of nine chronic stroke patients, during a pilot study consisting of 2 sessions. Preliminary outcomes show that the technique is effective with the very distal part of wrist involving F/E and A/A but results in a reduced motor improvement for the P/S where proximal part of the arm is involved.