Effects of Assist-As-Needed Upper Extremity Robotic Therapy after Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: A Parallel-Group Controlled Trial

This study investigates whether a robot-assisted therapy, which adapts to a patient's needs during movement, can improve arm function in individuals with incomplete spinal cord injuries. The robot adjusts the amount of help it gives based on the patient's performance. Seventeen patients with incomplete spinal cord injuries participated in the study. They were divided into two groups: one received the adaptive robot therapy (AAN), and the other received a standard, non-adaptive robot therapy (ST). While the study didn't find significant improvements in standard clinical measures of arm function, it did find that the adaptive robot therapy group showed greater improvements in the quality of their movements as measured by the robot itself.

• 1
  The assist-as-needed (AAN) robotic controller effectively modulated assistance and challenge during therapy sessions, demonstrating its adaptability to individual patient needs.
• 2
  No statistically significant change was measured in either group of subjects for the primary outcome measure, the pre–post difference in ARAT score.
• 3
  Ancillary analysis of secondary outcome measures obtained via robotic testing indicates gradual improvement in movement quality during the therapy program in both groups, with the AAN controller affording greater increases in movement quality over the ST controller.