VIT-ARMin Virtual, Intensified and Patient-tailored Robotic Arm Therapy With the Exoskeleton Robot ARMin

Virtual, Intensified and Patient-tailored Robotic Arm Therapy With the Exoskeleton Robot ARMin

Consideration-of-Concept Trial (stage 1) on robotic therapy of the upper extremity with the ARMin therapy robot in healthy subjects and patients with neurological disease (e.g. stroke, spinal cord injury)

Neurological patients (e.g., after stroke) need long-term neurorehabilitative therapy of the arm with often limited, unsatisfactory outcome. Robots became a promising supplement or even alternative for neurorehabilitative training. Investigators aim at developing a unique intensified and patient-tailored robot-aided training strategy of the arm. The exoskeleton robot ARMin will be further developed to adapt software components accordingly. The goal is to enhance treatment efficacy to an extent that the improvement in motor function is meaningful for the individual patient. It can be intensified by different strategies that will be evaluated alone and in combination. These strategies include:

strength training an error-amplification strategy increased number of repetitions multisensory feedback multiplayer approach

Inclusion Criteria:

healthy or CVA or spinal cord injury

• Aged ≥18 years
• No excessive spasticity of the affected arm (modified Ashworth Scale ≤3)
• No serious medical or psychiatric disorder as assessed by their physician
• No orthopaedic, rheumatological, or other disease restricting movements of the paretic arm
• No shoulder subluxation (palpation <2 fingers)
• No skin ulcerations at the paretic arm
• Ability to communicate effectively with the examiner such that the validity of the patient's data could not be compromised
• No cybersickness (e.g., nausea when looking at a screen or playing computer games)
• No pacemaker or other implanted electric devices
• Bodyweight <120 kg
• No serious cognitive defects or aphasia preventing effective use of ARMin

Exclusion Criteria

- Allergy against alcohol or no agreement for skin shaving