"Salvatore Maugeri" Foundation, IRCCS, Service of Rehabilitation Engineering, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2010 Feb;18(1):75-85. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2009.2028831. Epub 2009 Aug 7.
The aim of this study was to describe in detail a new method, called normalized force control parameter (nFCP), to measure changes in movement dynamics obtained during robot-aided neurorehabilitation, and to evaluate its ability to estimate the clinical scales. The study was conducted in a group of 18 subjects after chronic stroke who underwent robot therapy of the upper limb. We used two different measures of movement dynamics to assess patients' performance during each session of training: the nFCP and force directional error (FDE), both measuring the directional error of the patient-exerted force applied to the end-effector of the robot device. Both metrics exhibited significant changes over the three-week course of treatment. The comparison between nFCP and FDE slopes showed a significant and high correlation ( r = 0.79; p < 0.001), indicating that the two parameters are closely correlated. The FDE informed on the direction of the force error, while the nFCP showed a better performance in predicting the clinical scale values. Assessment of the time course of recovery showed that nFCP, FDE and the movement smoothness improved quickly at first and then plateaued, while steady gains in mean velocity of movement took place over a longer time course. These data may be helpful to the therapist in developing more effective robot-based therapy protocols.
本研究的目的是详细描述一种新的方法，称为归一化力控制参数（nFCP），以测量机器人辅助神经康复过程中获得的运动动力学变化，并评估其估计临床量表的能力。该研究在 18 名慢性中风后接受上肢机器人治疗的受试者中进行。我们使用两种不同的运动动力学测量来评估患者在每次训练过程中的表现：nFCP 和力方向误差（FDE），两者都测量患者施加到机器人设备末端执行器的力的方向误差。在为期三周的治疗过程中，这两个指标都发生了显著变化。nFCP 和 FDE 斜率之间的比较显示出显著的高度相关性（r=0.79；p<0.001），表明这两个参数密切相关。FDE 提供了力误差的方向信息，而 nFCP 在预测临床量表值方面表现更好。对恢复时间过程的评估表明，nFCP、FDE 和运动平滑度最初迅速提高，然后趋于平稳，而运动平均速度的稳定增加则需要更长的时间。这些数据可能有助于治疗师制定更有效的基于机器人的治疗方案。
