Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39707385›Full record

Trial reportJournal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation2024

Encouraging arm use in stroke survivors: the impact of smart reminders during a home-based intervention.

Laura Mayrhuber, Sebastian D Andres, Mathilde L Legrand, Andreas R Luft, Franziska Ryser, Roger Gassert, Janne M Veerbeek, Jannie van Duinen, Anne Schwarz, Karmen Franinovic and 5 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03294187 (Encouragement-induced Movement Therapy in Daily Life - a Randomized Controlled, Assessor-blinded Multi-center Trial in Stroke Patients With a Unilateral Hemiparesis, Using a Wrist-worn Tracking and Feedback Device), which is not on this map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT03294187 nacompletednot on this map

Encouragement-induced Movement Therapy in Daily Life - a Randomized Controlled, Assessor-blinded Multi-center Trial in Stroke Patients With a Unilateral Hemiparesis, Using a Wrist-worn Tracking and Feedback Device

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of ZurichRan2017 to 2021Enrolled42ConditionsStrokeArmsWrist-worn wearables
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Adherence to daily electronic symptom screening in pediatric cancer: associations with time, location and pain.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Laura Mayrhuber *Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sebastian D Andres *Vascular Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Department of Neurology, Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Mathilde L LegrandRehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Andreas R LuftVascular Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Department of Neurology, Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Franziska RyserRehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Roger GassertRehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Janne M VeerbeekClinic for Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Luzerner Kantonsspital, University Teaching and Research Hospital, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Jannie van DuinenVascular Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Department of Neurology, Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Anne SchwarzDepartment of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Karmen FraninovicInteraction Design, Institute for Design Research, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland.
Christoph RickertTyromotion GmbH, Graz, Austria.
Erik SchkommodauInstitute for Medical Engineering and Medical Informatics, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Muttenz, Switzerland.
Jeremia P O Held *Vascular Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Department of Neurology, Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Chris Awai Easthope *Lake Lucerne Institue (LLUI),, Vitznau, Switzerland. chris.awai@llui.org.
Olivier Lambercy *Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUpper limb impairment post-stroke often leads to a predominant use of the less affected arm and consequent learned disuse of the affected side, hindering upper limb outcome. Wearable sensors such as accelerometers, combined with smart reminders (i.e., based on the amount of arm activity), offer a potential approach to promote increased use of the affected arm to improve upper limb use during daily life. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of wrist vibratory reminders during a six-week home-based intervention in chronic stroke survivors.

methodsWe evaluated the impact of the home-based intervention on the primary outcome, the Motor Activity Log-14 Item Version scores Amount of Use (MAL-14 AOU), and the secondary outcomes MAL-14 Quality of Movement (QOM) and sensor-derived activity metrics from the affected arm. A randomized controlled trial design was used for the study: the intervention group received personalized reminders based on individualized arm activity goals, while the control group did not receive any feedback. Mixed linear models assessed the influence of the group, week of the intervention period, and initial impairment level on MAL-14 and arm activity metrics.

resultsForty-two participants were enrolled in the study. Overall, participants exhibited modest but not clinically relevant increases in MAL-14 AOU (+ 0.2 points) and QOM (+ 0.2 points) after the intervention period, with no statistically significant differences between the intervention and control group. Feasibility challenges were noted, such as adherence to wearing the trackers and sensor data quality. However, in participants with sufficiently available sensor data (n = 23), the affected arm use extracted from the sensor data was significantly higher in the intervention group (p < 0.05). The initial impairment level strongly influenced affected arm use and both MAL-14 AOU and QOM (p < 0.01).

conclusionsThe study investigated the effectiveness of incorporating activity trackers with smart reminders to increase affected arm activity among stroke survivors during daily life. While the results regarding the increased arm use at home are promising, patient-reported outcomes remained below clinically meaningful thresholds and showed no group differences. Further, it is essential to acknowledge feasibility issues such as adherence to wearing the trackers during the intervention and missing sensor data.

trial registrationNCT03294187.

Indexed as

ArmHome Care ServicesReminder SystemsStrokeStroke RehabilitationSurvivorsAccelerometryActivities of Daily LivingAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedWearable Electronic DevicesAffected arm useDaily lifeFeedbackNeurorehabilitationStrokeUpper limb

Identifiers

PMID39707385
PMCPMC11662716

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.