Therapy to Improve Reaching Movement in Upper Limb

In the researchers' words

Strokes are caused by a bleed in the brain and can be life threatening. One common consequence is upper limb impairment. This causes stroke patients to be unable to use their arms and upper body to do simple tasks such as reaching or grasping. Currently, people with stroke undergo rehabilitation, which is usually done through a physical and occupational (daily living skills) therapies to improve their mobility (movement) with their upper limbs. However, this kind of treatment has limitations and often cannot help patients regain total mobility. There are alternative rehabilitation treatments that use new methods and technologies that may be able to help patients with stroke. Neuromodulaton therapies using brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which connects brain signals directly to a computer, have the potential to help patients. This type of therapy uses assistive devices such as electrical stimulation (electrical shocks or waves) and robots to help restore function to the areas affected by stroke. The aim of this study is to evaluate and the potential benefits that can be achieved by using assistive devices in rehabilitation sessions with stroke patients.