Can Robotic Therapy Improve Performance in Activities of Daily Living? A Randomized Controlled Trial in Sub-Acute Spinal Cord Injured Patients

(1) Background: The influence of robotic therapy on patients with sub-acute cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) for improving their activities of daily living (ADL) performance is unclear; (2) Methods: 31 subjects with cervical SCI completed the training randomly assigned to an intervention or control...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2024-09, Vol.14 (18), p.8478
Main Authors: Lozano-Berrio, Vicente, Alcobendas-Maestro, Mónica, Perales-Gómez, Raquel, Pérez-Borrego, Yolanda, Gil-Agudo, Angel, Polonio-López, Begoña, Cortés, Camilo, de los Reyes-Guzmán, Ana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of daily living
Clinical trials
Intervention
Kinematics
Medical research
Medicine, Experimental
Paralysis
Patient compliance
Quality of life
Rehabilitation
robotic therapy
Robotics
Software
Spinal cord injuries
spinal cord injury
Stroke
tetraplegia
upper extremity
Virtual reality
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Summary:(1) Background: The influence of robotic therapy on patients with sub-acute cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) for improving their activities of daily living (ADL) performance is unclear; (2) Methods: 31 subjects with cervical SCI completed the training randomly assigned to an intervention or control group during 40 sessions. All the subjects received, in each session, 30 min of upper-extremity conventional therapy. In addition, the subjects within the control group received another 30 min of conventional therapy, whereas subjects within the intervention group received 30 min of robotic therapy with Armeo Spring (Hocoma AG, Volketswil, Switzerland). Therefore, the ADL of drinking was trained by using the exoskeleton. Feasibility and efficacy measurements as clinical scales and kinematic indices, and usability questionnaires, were used as assessment at baseline and at the ending of the study (week 10); (3) Results: The intervention group significantly improved with regards to the feeding and grooming items of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure scale. The improvement in the movement smoothness related to the activity of drinking was greater in the intervention group than in the control (p = 0.034); (4) Conclusions: The findings of this study reveal that patients with cervical SCI improve their performance in ADL with robotic therapy.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app14188478