Trauma and rehabilitation: Edited by Phillippe Vuadens

What's new in new technologies for upper extremity rehabilitation?

Brochard, Sylvaina,b,c; Robertson, Johannad,e; Médée, Béatricea,b; Rémy-Néris, Oliviera,b,c

Author Information

aCHU Brest, Service de Médecine Physique et de Réadaptation, France

bInserm, UMR_S 650, IFR 148, France

cUniversité Européenne de Bretagne, Brest, France

dService de Médecine Physique et Réadaptation, Hôpital Poincaré, 104 bvd Poincaré, Garches, France

eLaboratoire de Neurophysique et Physiologie (UMR CNRS 8119), Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, Paris, France

Correspondence to Dr Sylvain Brochard, Service de médecine physique et de réadaptation, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Morvan, 5 Avenue Foch, 29200 Brest, France Tel: +33 2 98 22 33 73; e-mail: [email protected]

Current Opinion in Neurology 23(6):p 683-687, December 2010. | DOI: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e32833f61ce

Abstract

Purpose of review 

The field of new technologies for upper-limb rehabilitation is exploding. The review presents new trends and studies of effectiveness from recent literature regarding robots, virtual reality and telerehabilitation for neurorehabilitation of the upper limb.

Recent findings 

There appears to be a greater focus on technological developments than on clinical trials or studies to evaluate the mechanisms behind the effectiveness of these systems. Developments are most abundant in the field of robotics. However, the first well designed and powered randomized-controlled trial on robot rehabilitation has appeared, confirming that the effectiveness of robot therapy lies in the number of repetitions provided. There is a move towards studies in populations other than stroke, particularly cerebral palsy with a few studies on multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury. There is also an increasing trend for the use of robotic devices as evaluation tools.

Summary 

Despite the fact that new technologies are based on knowledge from motor control and learning literature and that they provide an exciting potential for varied rehabilitation, recent evidence suggests that the only contribution to clinical practice currently is the provision of intensive, repetitive movements.

© 2010 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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