Objective: To determine and compare the effectiveness of robotic therapy with a patient-guided suspension system for stroke rehabilitation using a 7-days-a-week model of care with that of conventional rehabilitation.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation unit of an acute general hospital.
Participants: A total of 100 consecutive patients with stroke (N=100) admitted within a 7-month period who fulfilled the criteria to undergo robotic therapy with a patient-guided suspension system were enrolled in this study.
Interventions: Patients either underwent robotic therapy in addition to conventional therapy (robotic group) or conventional therapy only (control group). There were 50 patients in each cohort.
Main outcome measures: FIM and its derivatives (FIM gain and FIM efficiency); Berg Balance Scale (BBS), functional ambulation category (FAC); modified Rankin Scale (mRS); and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale.
Results: The average FIM gains in both groups were statistically significant (P<.01). The robotic group had greater improvement in FAC scores (1.24 vs 0.78, P=.007). However, other measurements such as FIM efficiency, BBS, and mRS were not significantly different between the 2 groups. The robotics group reported high patient satisfaction rates, with most patients finding the intervention both beneficial and desirable.
Conclusions: Adjunct robotic therapy has the potential to increase the efficacy of stroke rehabilitation. However, further studies are needed to strengthen the evidence.
Keywords: BBS, Berg Balance Scale; FAC, functional ambulation category; Gait; IQR, interquartile range; LOS, length of stay; MMT, manual muscle testing; NIHSS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; Rehabilitation; Robotics; Stroke; mRS, modified Rankin Scale.
© 2021 The Authors.