Abstract

Background: During the past decade there has been a rapid increase in the number of robotic devices that are being developed to assist movement rehabilitation of the upper paretic extremity resulting from brain injury.
Objective: The current cross-over study tested whether additional Gloreha hand mobilization, could maintain range of motion, could decrease edema and improves movements of paretic upper-limb.
Methods: 27 subjects were randomly assigned in two groups. Group 1 received Gloreha therapy plus conventional therapy in the first week and then only conventional teraphy in the next week; Group 2 received only conventional therapy in the first week and conventional teraphy plus robot assisted teraphy in the second week.
A therapist blinded to the group assignment, tested all subjects with a battery of clinical evaluations (hand Volumetric Measurement, range of motion, Upper Limb Motricity Index) immediately before the start of first treatment and immediately after the end of the last treatment of the week. A T-test, a Mann-whitney and Mc Nemar tests were applied on rating, ordinal and binomial data respectively, with level of significance set at 0.05.
Results: Significance tests for treatment effect did reveal significant differences in hand volume.
Conclusion: The results confirm that upper limb robot assisted passive mobilization, in addition to conventional treatment, is effective in reduction of swelling or oedema. Future research with longer time of observation and larger sample could show if this robot treatment could promote movements that are essential in hand and upper limb recovery after Acquired Brain Injury.