ArticleRestorative neurology and neuroscience2018
Self-powered robots to reduce motor slacking during upper-extremity rehabilitation: a proof of concept study.
Article in Restorative neurology and neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic review of novel technology-based interventions for ischemic stroke.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2021Pooled it
- A comparison of the effects and usability of two exoskeletal robots with and without robotic actuation for upper extremity rehabilitation among patients with stroke: a single-blinded randomised controlled pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2020Trial
- Recent Advances in Sensor-Based Upper-Limb and Hand Exoskeletons for Post-Stroke Rehabilitation: A Technical and Biomedical Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Low-cost Devices for Stroke Rehabilitation: A Review of Approaches, Designs, and Evidence.Restorative neurology and neuroscience · 2026Review
- Improving interlimb coordination and paretic limb use after stroke using a novel robotic split-crank pedaling device: a cross-sectional study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Multimodal Evaluation of Mental Workload and Engagement in Upper-Limb Robot-Assisted Motor Tasks.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Feasibility of a new soft ankle exoskeleton on people with dropfoot post-stroke.Wearable technologies · 2026Article
- Evaluating self-assistance during functional reach with a passive hydrostatic exoskeleton under artificial impairment.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Human-in-the-Loop Myoelectric Pattern Recognition Control of an Arm-Support Robot to Improve Reaching in Stroke Survivors.IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society · 2025Article
- Shaping corticospinal pathways in virtual reality: effects of task complexity and sensory feedback during mirror therapy in neurologically intact individuals.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2024Article
- [Research advances on functional training robots in burn rehabilitation].Zhonghua shao shang yu chuang mian xiu fu za zhi · 2022Article
- [Several problems worthy of attention in non-surgical treatment of scar].Zhonghua shao shang za zhi = Zhonghua shaoshang zazhi = Chinese journal of burns · 2021Article
- Motor slacking during resisted treadmill walking: Can visual feedback of kinematics reduce this behavior?Gait & posture · 2021Article
- Effect of paired-pulse stimulus parameters on the two phases of short interval intracortical inhibition in the quadriceps muscle group.Restorative neurology and neuroscience · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundRobotic rehabilitation is a highly promising approach to recover lost functions after stroke or other neurological disorders. Unfortunately, robotic rehabilitation currently suffers from "motor slacking", a phenomenon in which the human motor system reduces muscle activation levels and movement excursions, ostensibly to minimize metabolic- and movement-related costs. Consequently, the patient remains passive and is not fully engaged during therapy. To overcome this limitation, we envision a new class of body-powered robots and hypothesize that motor slacking could be reduced if individuals must provide the power to move their impaired limbs via their own body (i.e., through the motion of a healthy limb).
objectiveTo test whether a body-powered exoskeleton (i.e. robot) could reduce motor slacking during robotic training.
methodsWe developed a body-powered robot that mechanically coupled the motions of the user's elbow joints. We tested this passive robot in two groups of subjects (stroke and able-bodied) during four exercise conditions in which we controlled whether the robotic device was powered by the subject or by the experimenter, and whether the subject's driven arm was engaged or at rest. Motor slacking was quantified by computing the muscle activation changes of the elbow flexor and extensor muscles using surface electromyography.
resultsSubjects had higher levels of muscle activation in their driven arm during self-powered conditions compared to externally-powered conditions. Most notably, subjects unintentionally activated their driven arm even when explicitly told to relax when the device was self-powered. This behavior was persistent throughout the trial and did not wane after the initiation of the trial.
conclusionsOur findings provide novel evidence indicating that motor slacking can be reduced by self-powered robots; thus demonstrating promise for rehabilitation of impaired subjects using this new class of wearable system. The results also serve as a foundation to develop more sophisticated body-powered robots (e.g., with controllable transmissions) for rehabilitation purposes.
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Registered trials
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