Motions Or Muscles? Some Behavioral Factors Underlying Robotic Assistance Of Motor Recovery

Main Category: Stroke
Also Included In: Muscular Dystrophy / ALS;  Multiple Sclerosis;  Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 21 Nov 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Robots provide an excellent platform from which to study recovery at the behavioral level. We reviewed some initial insights about the process of recovering upper-limb behavior that have emerged from our work. For pragmatic reasons, we primarily considered therapy focused on planar arm movements to enable clearer comparison of different forms of therapy (what worked and what did not).

Our investigations indicate that, at least for the upper limb, recovery of the normal pattern of kinematic coordination is preeminent.

Evidence to date suggests that the form of therapy may be more important than its intensity. These results indicate that movement coordination rather than muscle activation may be the most appropriate focus for robotic therapy.

Motions or muscles? Some behavioral factors underlying robotic assistance of motor recovery, pg. 605 (PDF)

About the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD

JRRD has been a leading research journal in the field of rehabilitation medicine and technology for more than 40 years. JRRD, a peer-reviewed, scientifically indexed journal, publishes original research papers, review articles, as well as clinical and technical commentary from U.S. and international researchers on all rehabilitation research disciplines. JRRD's mission is to responsibly evaluate and disseminate scientific research findings impacting the rehabilitative healthcare community.

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