1. Introduction
Stroke, chronic stroke, stroke, limb motor impairment, pain, cognitive decline
STROKE, DISEASE, STROKE
Stroke is a disabling and deleterious disease with high mortality. The survivors often experience affected limb motor impairment, cognitive decline, and other functional disabilities. The global burden of stroke is tremendous.Rehabilitation robot types include end-effector type and exoskeletal type. Previous studies showed that therapeutic rehabilitation with an exoskeletal robot improved the patient’s upper limb motor function and daily activity function.Hexo-UR30A is a new exoskeletal robot designed for shoulder joint exercise. It provides continuous isokinetic, isometric, and isotonic movement for the shoulder joint so that patients can move their shoulders at a constant speed without pain. The effectiveness of Hexo-UR30A is yet to be investigated clinically, especially in chronic stroke patients.The purpose of this study was to quantitatively compare the recovery of shoulder joint range of motion and functional and motor improvement of chronic stroke patients in the conventional upper limb ergometer rehabilitation group and Hexo-UR30A-assisted rehabilitation group.