Effects of robot-assisted therapy on upper extremity function and activities of daily living in hemiplegic patients: A single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial
Affiliations: [a] Department of Occupational Therapy, Graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, Daegu University, Gyeongsan-si, Korea | [b] Department of Physical Therapy, College of Nursing, Healthcare Sciences and Human Ecology, Dong-Eui University, Busan, Korea | [c] Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Rehabilitation Science, Daegu University, Gyeongsan-si, Korea
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Sun-Min Lee, Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Rehabilitation Science, Daegu University, 201, Daegudae-ro Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do 38453, Korea. Tel.: +82 53 850 4394; E-mail: sm.lee@daegu.ac.kr.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Many robots can induce passive movements and passive resistance movements to facilitate recovery of upper-extremity function, but it is rare to find robots that can also enable active resistance movements. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of robot-assisted therapy on upper-extremity function and the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL) in patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia. METHODS: Thirty patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, with 15 patients in each group. All subjects underwent general occupational therapy consisting of five 30-min sessions per week for 8 weeks, in addition to 30 min of robot-assisted therapy for the experimental group and 30 additional min of general occupational therapy for the control group for each session. RESULTS: Both the experimental and control groups showed a statistically significant increase in post-treatment Fugl-Meyer assessment and modified Barthel index scores compared to the pre-treatment scores. Intergroup comparisons revealed that the experimental group showed a statistically significant greater increase in scores for all assessments than the control group did (p< 0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings from this study showed that combining robot-assisted therapy with general occupational therapy may enhance upper-extremity function and the ability to perform ADL in patients with stroke-induced hemiplegia compared to those obtained with general occupational therapy alone.
