Fazekas G, Horvath M, Troznai T, Toth A
The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical usefulness of the REHAROB Therapeutic System, which provides passive robot-mediated physiotherapy for patients with spastic hemiparesis. This was a controlled, randomized, preliminary study. Thirty patients with hemiparesis as a consequence of upper motor neurone lesion were divided randomly into 2 groups: robotic and control. Subjects from both groups received 30 minutes of Bobath therapy sessions on 20 consecutive work days. Members of the robotic group received an additional 30 minutes of robot-mediated therapy on the same days. The results showed that the majority of the parameters measured improved in both groups, but modified Ashworth score of shoulder adductors and elbow flexors showed a statistically significant change only in the robotic group. From this, the authors suggest that the results could be useful to supplement traditional physiotherapy with this form of robot-mediated therapy in the future.
Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2007, 39(7), 580-582