Title
Dose and staffing comparison study of upper limb device-assisted therapy
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
NeuroRehabilitation: an interdisciplinary journal
Publisher
IOS Press
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
31826
Abstract
BACKGROUND:Neurological injuries cause persistent upper extremity motor deficits. Device-assisted therapy is an emerging trend in neuro-rehabilitation as it offers high intensity, repetitive practice in a standardized setting. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of therapy duration and staff-participant configuration on device-assisted upper limb therapy outcomes in individuals with chronic paresis. METHODS:Forty-seven participants with chronic upper extremity weakness due to neurological injury were assigned to a therapy duration (30 or 60 min) and a staff-participant configuration (1-to-1 or 1-to-2). Therapy consisted of 3 sessions a week for 6 weeks using the Armeo®Spring device. Clinical assessments were performed at three timepoints (Pre, Post, and 3 month Follow up). RESULTS:Improvements in upper limb impairment, measured by change in Fugl-Meyer score (FM), were observed following therapy in all groups. FM improvement was comparable between 30 and 60 min sessions, but participants in the 1-to-2 group had significantly greater improvement in FM from Pre-to-Post and from Pre-to-Follow up than the 1-to-1 group. CONCLUSIONS:Device-assisted therapy can reduce upper limb impairment to a similar degree whether participants received 30 or 60 min per session. Our results suggest that delivering therapy in a 1-to-2 configuration is a feasible and more effective approach than traditional 1-to-1 staffing.
DOI
10.3233/NRE-192993
Access Rights
subscription content
Research Themes
Health
Priority Areas
Neuroscience and neurorehabilitation
Comments
Wuennemann, M. J., Mackenzie, S. W., Lane, H. P., Peltz, A. R., Ma, X., Gerber, L. M., ... & Kitago, T. (2020). Dose and staffing comparison study of upper limb device-assisted therapy. NeuroRehabilitation. 46(3), 287-297. https://doi.org/10.3233/NRE-192993