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Hermano Igo Krebs

Publications and source records attributed to Hermano Igo Krebs.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Customized interactive robotic treatment for stroke: EMG-triggered therapy.

A system for electromyographic (EMG) triggering of robot-assisted therapy (dubbed the EMG game) for stroke patients is presented. The onset of a patient's attempt to move is detected by monitoring EMG in selected muscles, whereupon the robot assists her or him to perform point-to-point movements in a horizontal plane. Besides delivering customized robot-assisted therapy, the system can record signals that may be useful to better understand the process of recovery from stroke. Preliminary experiments aimed at testing the proposed system and gaining insight into the potential of EMG-triggered, robot-assisted therapy are reported.

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PubMed2004

Comparison of two techniques of robot-aided upper limb exercise training after stroke.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether incorporating progressive resistive training into robot-aided exercise training provides incremental benefits over active-assisted robot-aided exercise for the upper limb after stroke. DESIGN: A total of 47 individuals at least 1 yr poststroke were enrolled in this 6-wk training protocol. Paretic upper limb motor abilities were evaluated using clinical measures and a robot-based assessment to determine eligibility for robot-aided progressive resistive training at study entry. Subjects capable of participating in resistance training were randomized to receive either active-assisted robot-aided exercises or robot-aided progressive resistance training. Subjects who were incapable of participating in resistance training underwent active-assisted robotic therapy and were again screened for eligibility after 3 wks of robotic therapy. Those subjects capable of participating in resistance training at 3 wks were then randomized to receive either robot-aided resistance training or to continue with robot-aided active-assisted training. RESULTS: One subject withdrew due to unrelated medical issues, and data for the remaining 46 subjects were analyzed. Subjects in all groups showed improvement in measures of motor control (mean increase in Fugl-Meyer of 3.3; 95% confidence interval, 2.2-4.4) and maximal force (mean increase in maximal force of 3.5 N, P = 0.027) over the course of robot-aided exercise training. No differences in outcome measures were observed between the resistance training groups and the matched active-assisted training groups. Subjects' ability to perform the robotic task at the time of group assignment predicted the magnitude of the gain in motor control. CONCLUSION: The incorporation of robot-aided progressive resistance exercises into a program of robot-aided exercise did not favorably or negatively affect the gains in motor control or strength associated with this training, though interpretation of these results is limited by sample size. Individuals with better motor control at baseline experienced greater increases in motor control with robotic training.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Submovements grow larger, fewer, and more blended during stroke recovery.

Submovements are hypothesized building blocks of human movement, discrete ballistic movements of which more complex movements are composed. Using a novel algorithm, submovements were extracted from the point-to-point movements of 41 persons recovering from stroke. Analysis of the extracted submovements showed that, over the course of therapy, patients' submovements tended to increase in peak speed and duration. The number of submovements employed to produce a given movement decreased. The time between the peaks of adjacent submovements decreased for inpatients (those less than 1 month post-stroke), but not for outpatients (those greater than 12 months post-stroke) as a group. Submovements became more overlapped for all patients, but more markedly for inpatients. The strength and consistency with which it quantified patients' recovery indicates that analysis of submovement overlap might be a useful tool for measuring learning or other changes in motor behavior in future human movement studies.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Robot-aided sensorimotor training in stroke rehabilitation.

The first groups to use robotic devices to enhance the sensorimotor experience of patients recovering from upper limb paralysis after stroke have generated encouraging information. Patient acceptance and staff enthusiasm for robot training at Burke--MIT is consistently high. Robot training data are consistent with other controlled studies showing that more activity leads to more motor improvement and decreased impairment. Therapists equipped with a robotic device can increase the amount and intensity of movement of the paralyzed limb without sacrificing time spent training complex functionally appropriate kinematics.

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PubMed2002

Movement smoothness changes during stroke recovery.

Smoothness is characteristic of coordinated human movements, and stroke patients' movements seem to grow more smooth with recovery. We used a robotic therapy device to analyze five different measures of movement smoothness in the hemiparetic arm of 31 patients recovering from stroke. Four of the five metrics showed general increases in smoothness for the entire patient population. However, according to the fifth metric, the movements of patients with recent stroke grew less smooth over the course of therapy. This pattern was reproduced in a computer simulation of recovery based on submovement blending, suggesting that progressive blending of submovements underlies stroke recovery.

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