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Monitoring a range of physiological parameters in SCI patients during extended periods of daily activity and during therapy in rehabilitation raises a no of practical issues. A totally portable system with sensors and data logger can provide a clinically useful monitoring system for SCI to study the behaviour of physiological parameters during rehabilitation allows it to be prescribed and optimised...
In the last years the home monitoring development is increased both for its capability as a real time tool to manage patients health and to reduce hospitalization costs. The home monitoring system is a complex structure that needs the collaboration of different disciplines, from medicine to engineering, and technologies. This project has been developed with the integration of different groups of research...
In this paper we investigated on the possibility of using a wearable kinesthetic system for monitoring flexion-extension of the knee joint during deambulation. The final goal was to provide an unobtrusive technique to identify the clinical stage of the recovery process of patients affected by venous ulcer. These patients have great difficulty in walking depending on the severity level of disease and...
We studied the neuromuscular mechanical properties of the elbow and ankle joints in chronic, hemiparetic stroke patients and healthy subjects. System identification techniques were used to characterize the mechanical abnormalities of these joints and to identify the contribution of intrinsic and reflex stiffness to these abnormalities. Modulation of intrinsic and reflex stiffness with the joint angle...
The motor recovery procedure of chronic stroke during robot-assisted training has not been well studied previously. In this work, we analyzed the variations in the coactivating patterns of elbow and shoulder muscles (biceps, triceps lateral, anterior deltoid, and posterior deltoid) in hemiplegic persons with chronic stroke (n=4) during a 20-session's interactive robot-assisted treatment. Significant...
The use of robotic gait training systems has become commonplace world-wide. In particular, the Lokomat robotic orthosis (Hocoma AG, Volketswil, Switzerland) is in use at nearly 75 facilities treating patients with spinal cord injury, stroke, and other neurological impairments. Despite the extensive use of the device, no studies have reported the leg kinematic trajectories while walking in the device...
Maintaining balance under all conditions is an absolute requirement for humans. Orientation in space and balance maintenance requires inputs from the vestibular, the visual, the proprioceptive and the somatosensory systems. All the cues coming from these systems are integrated by the central nervous system (CNS) to employ different strategies for orientation and balance. How the CNS integrates all...
Transcutaneous (surface) electrical stimulation (TES) is a widely applied technique for muscle atrophy treatment, muscle force training, endurance training, pain treatment, functional movement therapy, and the restoration of motor functions. We present a new TES technology based on a multi-channel stimulation approach, which allows us to perform real-time spatial and temporal variations of the electrical...
In this study, a myoelectrically controlled robotic system with one degree of freedom was developed to assist elbow training in the horizontal plane for patients after stroke. The system could provide assistive extension torque which was proportional to the amplitude of the subject's processed and normalized electromyograhpic (EMG) signal from triceps. The system also provided different resistive...
The present study investigates the dependence of anticipatory postural adjustments (APA) for step initiation on velocity and length of the first step, by means of both dynamometric data, acquired by a force platform, and accelerometric data, achieved by means of sensor nodes positioned on the lower legs and on the trunk. Results focus on antero-posterior center of pressure (CoP) displacement and antero-posterior...
This study investigates the human response to impulse perturbations at the midpoint of a haptically-guided straight-line point-to-point movement. Such perturbation response may be used as an assessment tool during robot-mediated neuro-rehabilitation therapy. Subjects show variety in their perturbation responses. Movements with a lower perturbation displacement exhibit high frequency oscillations,...
Functional recovery of an impaired gait pattern is a common goal for stroke patients in their rehabilitation. Robotic and mechatronic devices offer a means of facilitating and enhancing gait retraining practices undertaken by clinicians. A new active knee orthosis has been developed for gait retraining of stroke patients that may fulfil this role. Since this device is newly developed, it is important...
We have designed and built a lower extremity powered exo-skeleton (LOPES) for the training of post-stroke patients. This paper describes the philosophy behind the design of LOPES, motivates the choices that have been made and gives some exemplary results of the ranges of mechanical impedances that can be achieved
Electrical stimulation that can reorganize our neural system has a potential for promising neurorehabilitation. We previously demonstrated that temporally controlled intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) could induce the spike time-dependant plasticity and modify tuning properties of cortical neurons as desired. A 'pairing' ICMS following tone-induced excitatory post-synaptic potentials (EPSPs) produced...
We report the development of a novel experimental system for investigation of potential correlation between cortical neuronal signals and lower limb movement with targeted application towards cortical controlled neuroprosthesis. The system consists of a specially designed chair and a virtual reality based task environment. We designed a training paradigm for non-human primates to perform whole leg...
This paper suggests that the optimal method for promoting of the recovery of upper extremity function in hemiplegic individuals is the use of hybrid assistive systems (HAS). The suggested HAS is a combination of stimulation of paralyzed distal segments (hand) in synchrony with robot controlled movements of proximal segments (upper arm and forearm). The use of HAS is envisioned as part of voluntary...
Key to a successful application of functional electrical stimulation as a rehabilitation therapy (also termed functional electrical therapy or FET) is modular, portable, programmable, and versatile transcutaneous electrical stimulation technology. In this article a hardware platform, Compex Motion, that has been used successfully to develop numerous FET systems for walking, reaching and grasping is...
Restricted element study of the fracture healing by external fixation device was investigated. The analyses were performed under an axial and variable loaded boundary conditions. The effect of different fracture size and different distance between bone and the external fixator device on the stress distribution was investigated. The results show that stresses in the external fixator device are highest...
This paper presents an orthopedic stabiliser to be used for the treatment of periarticular fractures of the knee joint. The design of the device is documented by experimental research of the knee joint kinematics. Experimental and simulation research suggest the use of a four-bar linkage mechanism. This research has also made it possible to define the range of adjustment to adapt the stabiliser kinematics...
Pressure ulcers are widely considered to be a critical problem in rehabilitation since they result in severe discomfort and high healthcare cost. The prevention of pressure ulcers is a constant preoccupation for every nursing team. This paper introduces a novel handheld instrument that can detect subtle changes in the skin biomechanical properties by measuring its biomechanical response. This could...
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