User
spasticity, epilepsy, paresis, cord injury, abduction of the shoulder, paresis of the upper limb, fractures, Stereoscopic vision
EPILEPSY, CONTRACTIONS, PARESIS, DER, NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS
This study had three groups of users: eleven patients (“RobExReha-Patients”) (aged 64.4 ± 11.2 years, range 47–85) and five therapists (“RobExReha-Therapists”) (aged 38.2 ± 16.0 years, range 23–57) who evaluated the RobExReha device and an additional eleven age-matched patients (“Reference Group”) (aged 64.3 ± 9.1 years, range 49–79) were allocated to the reference group (see Table Inclusion criteria for patients were a subacute or chronic paresis of the upper limb due to neurological disorders, preserved language comprehension, ability to communicate, orientation in space and time, ability to sit upright for at least 45 min, and the completion of at least four training sessions with the respective therapy device (RobExReha or Armeo). Further device-related inclusion criteria for the RobExReha-Patients group were ability to reach the clip-in-position of the robotic device at 30° abduction of the shoulder, impairment on the right side, and normal or appropriately corrected vision.We excluded patients with craniotomy, instable fractures, fixated contractions, active implants, epilepsy and severe instabilities, severe spasticity (Modified Ashworth Scale > 3, [Stereoscopic vision was evaluated using the Titmus-Test (Stereo Optical Co., Chicago, IL) but was not a limiting factor for study inclusion. The mean stereoscopic vision of the RobExReha-Patients group was 405 ± 983 arc sec (median: 100 arc sec; range 40–3352 arc sec). With defining the cut-off score for unimpaired stereoscopic vision at 60 arc sec [The five therapists administering the therapy had a working experience of 9.8 ± 8.2 years in neurorehabilitation (min-max: 1–23 y.). They were either physiotherapists (n = 2), a sport therapist (n = 1), a health scientist (n = 1) or a specially trained staff member for robotic upper limb therapy without specific health care profession (n = 1). Two of the therapists were highly trained using other robotic devices daily, and three of them had not regularly used robotic therapy. The technical affinity questionnaire (TA-EG) [
Characteristics of participantsStroke (n = 8)Spinal cord injury (n = 2)Guillain-Barré-Syndrome (n = 1)Stroke (n = 10)Spinal cord injury (n = 1)Time since paresis in days
M: mean, SD: standard deviationAll participants gave informed written consent. Ethics approval was obtained (Ethikkommission der Bayerischen Landesärztekammer) and the study was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00022136).