Sensory-Motor Rehabilitation Post Stroke

Purpose

Early after stroke, patients often have significant motor impairment and sensory deficit. Evidence has demonstrated heightened plasticity and significant recovery in the acute phase (first months) post stroke but there has been a lack of effective and practical protocols and devices for early intensive sensorimotor therapy.This research study will conduct a randomized clinical trial of an intensive motor-sensory rehabilitation on patients with acute stroke using a wearable rehabilitation robot. The primary aims are to facilitate sensorimotor recovery, reduce ankle impairments, and improve balance and gait functions. This clinical trial will be conducted on the Study and Control groups of acute stroke survivors.

Condition

  • Acute Stroke

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 18 Years and 80 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  1. First time unilateral acute stroke, hemorrhagic or ischemic, 24 hours after admission in hospital to 1 year post stroke. 2. Hemiplegia or hemiparesis 3. Age 18-80 4. Ankle impairments

Exclusion Criteria

  1. No impairment or very mild ankle impairment of ankle. 2. Unstable medical conditions that interferes with ability to training and exercise. 3. Severe cardiovascular disorders that interfere with ability to perform moderate movement exercises. 4. Cognitive impairment or aphasia with inability to follow instructions 5. Pressure ulcer, recent surgical incision or active skin disease with open wounds present below knee of treated limb 6. Severe pain in legs

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
Single (Outcomes Assessor)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Study group
Subjects in the Study group will receive stretching and active movement training with robotic guidance and intelligent control
  • Device: stretching and active movement training
    A portable rehabilitation robot will be used to strongly or gently move the impaired ankle joint back and forth. Then subjects will be asked to use muscles to move the ankle with or without the robotic guidance depending on which group the subjects are in.
Experimental
Control group
Subjects in the Control group will receive stretching and active movement training without robotic guidance.
  • Device: stretching and active movement training
    A portable rehabilitation robot will be used to strongly or gently move the impaired ankle joint back and forth. Then subjects will be asked to use muscles to move the ankle with or without the robotic guidance depending on which group the subjects are in.

Recruiting Locations

University of Maryland, Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Contact:
Mei Huang, Ph.D.
410-706-4527
MHuang@som.umaryland.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Study Contact

Michael Graziano, Ph.D.
(410) 706-1584
Michael.Graziano@som.umaryland.edu

Detailed Description

The study will investigate an early intensive rehabilitation in acute stroke for motor relearning, reducing ankle impairments and improving balance and mobility/locomotion functions. The acute stroke survivor will be randomly placed into two groups. Subjects in the Study group will receive robot-aided motor relearning under real-time feedback, stretching under intelligent control, sensory stimulation, and active movement training with interactive games. Subjects in the Control group will receive passive movement in the middle ROM without intelligent stretching and active movement training without robotic guidance. For both groups, the therapeutic training will be conducted during 5 hourly sessions (including breaks/transitions between tasks) each week over about 3-week hospital stay. Both groups will also receive the standard of care in the hospital and rehabilitation service. Treatment outcome measures will be obtained through blinded assessments and evaluated before and after training involving biomechanical, neuromuscular and clinical outcome measures. Carry-over effects will be further evaluated 1 month after the treatment ends. Aim 1: To evaluate biomechanical and neuromuscular changes as defined by the passive and active range of motion (ROM), flexor-extensor muscle strength, joint stiffness, proprioception and reflex excitability, and compare these measures between the two groups. The biomechanical and neuromuscular outcome measures will be obtained through blinded assessments and evaluated before and after training using the wearable rehabilitation robot. Hypothesis 1: Robot-guided motor relearning, stretching and active movement training (Study group) will improve the biomechanical and neuromuscular outcome measures more than those of the Control group. Aim 2: To evaluate the clinical outcome measures as defined by Fugl-Meyer score (lower extremity), modified Ashworth scale, Berg balance scale, 10 meter walk test, and to compare between the Study and Control groups. Hypothesis 2: The Study group will improve the clinical outcome measures more than the Control group.