Robotic Rehabilitation Therapy

Hermano I. Krebs

Hermano I. Krebs

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering Department, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Department Neurology and Neuroscience, Burke Medical Research Institute, White Plains, New York

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Neville Hogan

Neville Hogan

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering Department, Cambridge, Massachusetts

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First published: 14 April 2006

Abstract

The demand for rehabilitation services is growing apace with the graying of the population, with the number of senior citizens 65 years of age and older projected to increase by 88% in the coming years. With this increase in the number of senior citizens comes increased incidence of age-related pathologies including cerebral vascular accident (stroke). This situation creates both a need and an opportunity to deploy technologies such as robotics to assist recovery. In this chapter, the authors focus on the use of robotics to aid recovery after stroke, but the knowledge and know-how may apply similarly to other diseases and afflictions. The authors focus solely on robots that support and enhance the productivity of clinicians in their efforts to facilitate a disabled individual's recovery. An overview of existing rehabilitation robots for the upper and lower extremity, of technology limitations, of design choices, and of clinical results is presented. The focus of the remainder of the chapter is on clinical results and on the biology of neuro-recovery. This new class of interactive robotic devices, together with the understanding of its potentials and limitations, are poised to strongly influence how rehabilitation medicine will be practiced in the twenty-first century.

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