Relation Between Functional Movement and Kinematics in Robot Assisted Reach Exercise for Chronic Stroke Survivors

In recent years, robot-assisted exercise has been used as a therapeutic intervention to improve upper limb function of stroke survivors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between functional movement and kinematics in robot assisted reach exercise for chronic stroke survivors. The robot assisted reach exercise was performed in a test bed during 40 min for 16 chronic stroke survivors. The training test bed consisted of one Whole Arm Manipulator (WAM) and one projective display device. The Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) was used to measure functional movement and kinematics (movement time) was analyzed based on the performance of a reaching movement toward 3 targets. ARAT was positively correlated with movement time in 3 targets. In addition, stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that the movement time toward a contralateral target (target 1) was the explanatory variable closely associated with the functional movement, i.e., ARAT.