Neurocognitive Robot-assisted Rehabilitation of Hand Function After Stroke
Condition: Stroke; Upper Extremity Paresis
MeSH terms: Stroke; Paresis
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The aim of this project is to clinically evaluate a novel robot-assisted therapeutic approach
      to train sensorimotor hand function after stroke. It combines the profound experience of the
      clinic Hildebrand in neurocognitive therapy - involving brain and mind in the task and
      training both the motor and the sensory system - with the advanced haptic robotic technology
      of the Rehabilitation Engineering Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
      (ETH Zurich), allowing unmet interaction with the hand through the simulation of virtual
      objects with various mechanical properties. In a randomized controlled clinical trial, 10
      sub-acute stroke patients will receive four weeks of robotic therapy sessions, integrated
      seamlessly into their daily rehabilitation program, while 10 other patients will receive
      conventional therapy. The investigators will assess baseline performance in an initial
      clinical and robotic assessment, with another assessment at the end of the four-week period,
      and in follow-ups four weeks and six months later. The contents of the patient-tailored
      robotic therapy sessions will match those of the conventional therapy as closely as possible.
      This study will demonstrate the feasibility of including robotic therapy of hand function
      into the daily rehabilitation program, and investigate the acceptance from patients and
      therapists. The investigators expect increased training intensity during the robotic therapy
      session compared to conventional sessions with similar contents, as well as novel insights
      into the recovery process of both the motor and the sensory system during the four weeks of
      therapy, through advanced robotic assessments integrated into the training sessions. This
      project is a first step towards making such robotic therapy available to patients as
      integration into the conventional individual therapy program (e.g. for self-training), and
      towards transferring this technology to the home environment.
    


Intervention name(s): robot-assisted neurocognitive therapy of hand function; Conventional neurocognitive rehabilitation
Intervention type(s): Device; Other
Intervention description(s): 2 degrees-of-freedom hand rehabilitation robot to train fine motor skills during grasping and forearm rotation.; Use sensory perception (tactile, proprioception but not vision!) to solve a by the therapist guided (passive) or patient controlled (active) therapy task, e.g. discrimination/identification of different spring resistances, sponges, different sized blocks, etc.
Other intervention name(s): Rehabilitation robot ReHapticKnob; Perfetti-concept
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: stroke; acute; rehabilitation; robot therapy; hand function; fine motor skills; neurocognitive; sensory; Perfetti; haptics