School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering, Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
J Spinal Cord Med. 2022 Nov;45(6):809-820. doi: 10.1080/10790268.2021.1878342. Epub 2021 Feb 19.
More than half of all spinal cord injuries (SCI) occur at the cervical level leading to loss of upper limb function, restricted activity and reduced independence. Several technologies have been developed to assist with upper limb functions in the SCI population.
There is no clear clinical consensus on the effectiveness of the current assistive technologies for the cervical SCI population, hence this study reviews the literature in the years between 1999 and 2019.
A systematic review was performed on the state-of-the-art assistive technology that supports and improves the function of impaired upper limbs in cervical SCI populations. Combinations of terms, covering assistive technology, SCI, and upper limb, were used in the search, which resulted in a total of 1770 articles. Data extractions were performed on the selected studies which involved summarizing details on the assistive technologies, characteristics of study participants, outcome measures, and improved upper limb functions when using the device.
A total of 24 articles were found and grouped into five categories, including neuroprostheses (invasive and non-invasive), orthotic devices, hybrid systems, robots, and arm supports. Only a few selected studies comprehensively reported characteristics of the participants. There was a wide range of outcome measures and all studies reported improvements in upper limb function with the devices.
This study highlighted that assistive technologies can improve functions of the upper limbs in SCI patients. It was challenging to draw generalizable conclusions because of factors, such as heterogeneity of recruited participants, a wide range of outcome measures, and the different technologies employed.
超过一半的脊髓损伤（SCI）发生在颈椎水平，导致上肢功能丧失、活动受限和独立性降低。已经开发了几种技术来帮助 SCI 患者恢复上肢功能。
目前还没有关于辅助技术对颈椎 SCI 人群有效性的明确临床共识，因此本研究回顾了 1999 年至 2019 年期间的文献。
对支持和改善颈椎 SCI 人群受损上肢功能的最新辅助技术进行了系统评价。在搜索中使用了涵盖辅助技术、SCI 和上肢的术语组合，共产生了 1770 篇文章。对选定的研究进行了数据提取，其中包括总结辅助技术、研究参与者特征、结果测量以及使用设备改善上肢功能的详细信息。
共发现 24 篇文章，并分为五类，包括神经假体（侵入性和非侵入性）、矫形器、混合系统、机器人和手臂支撑。只有少数选定的研究全面报告了参与者的特征。有各种各样的结果测量，所有研究都报告了使用设备后上肢功能的改善。
本研究强调辅助技术可以改善 SCI 患者上肢的功能。由于参与者招募的异质性、结果测量的广泛范围以及所采用的不同技术等因素，难以得出普遍适用的结论。
