Robotic physical therapy improves movement long af...( erapy. The robot designed to stand on...),Health

erapy. The robot, designed to stand on a table, has an arm that extends for about two feet. The patients affected arm is secured into a supportive arm trough that is attached to the end of the robots arm. Once the patients arm is secured, the robot moves the arm, working the patient through a series of programmed motions.

Rehabilitation therapists think this repetitive motion can rebuild nerve pathways from the brain to the injured limb. This cortical reorganization appears to continue even years after the initial injury, says Fasoli.

The robot also has several advantages over traditional physical or occupational therapy. Continuing rehabilitation with a physical or occupational therapist is very labor intensive and long term it can be very costly, she says. The robot, by contrast, simply has to be programmed and plugged in and its ready for a therapy session. Moreover, the robot is very compliant and versatile. Although it can be programmed to offer some resistance to strengthen a patients movements, it can also help a weaker person complete difficult exercises, she says.

MIT-Manus was first used for inpatient therapy at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, White Plains, New York, in two studies with patients whod had a stroke within a month. The success of that research led to this study of long-time stroke survivors.

In the new study at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, Fasoli enrolled 11 men and 2 women, average age 60, who had suffered a stroke that affected movement on one side of their body during the previous one to five years. They were all living in the community, either alone or with a spouse or caregiver. All had impaired use of one arm, which was confirmed during a four-week observation period before beginning robot-assisted therapy.

During a six-week treatment period, enrollees had one-hour therapy sessions with the robot three times a week. The robot-directed exercises were aimed at improving movemen
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Contact: Karen Hunter or Bridgette McNeill
210-582-7159
American Heart Association
8-Feb-2002

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