Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that affects the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord. Although this condition cannot be cured, proper treatment of persons with MS (PwMS) can help control and manage the relapses of several symptoms. In this survey article, we focus on the different technologies used for the assessment and rehabilitation of motor impairments for PwMS. We discuss sensor-based and robot-based solutions for monitoring, assessment and rehabilitation. Among MS symptoms, fatigue is one of the most disabling features, since PwMS may need to put significantly more intense effort toward achieving simple everyday tasks. While fatigue is a common symptom across several neurological chronic diseases, it remains poorly understood for various reasons, including subjectivity and variability among individuals. To this end, we also investigate recent methods for fatigue detection and monitoring. The result of this survey will provide both clinicians and researchers with valuable information on assessment and rehabilitation technologies for PwMS, as well as providing insights regarding fatigue and its effect on performance in daily activities for PwMS.
Highlights
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease in which the immune system attacks the neurons of the central nervous system causing inflammation that damages the myelin, the fatty substance that surround the axons [1]
Primary Progressive MS (PPMS) is characterized by steady progression of disability once a person is affected [4]
We present a survey of assistive technologies used for assessment and rehabilitation for persons with MS (PwMS), with a focus on movement defects in the upper and lower body
Summary
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease in which the immune system attacks the neurons of the central nervous system causing inflammation that damages the myelin, the fatty substance that surround the axons [1]. Our main objective is to provide both clinicians and researchers with a survey of sensor-based and robot-based assistive technologies for both assessment and rehabilitation approaches for such common motor impairments in PwMS. For our survey, we include research studies and papers in which assistive technologies have been already proposed and evaluated for assessment and rehabilitation for PwMS. The main purpose of such a survey is to present the available assistive technologies used in MS, providing researchers and clinicians with the different approaches (sensors, robots) used to augment both assessment and rehabilitation approaches for different types of motor impairments (lower/upper body). Since fatigue is a commonly reported symptom for PwMS, we discuss existing methods to estimate and assess fatigue, including both traditional methods (e.g., questionnaires, scales), as well as multimodal fatigue detection and analysis approaches and their application to rehabilitation and training for PwMS (Section 5). We conclude by providing a summary of the paper, as well as a set of discussion points towards improving existing assistive technologies for the assessment, rehabilitation and training for PwMS (Section 6)
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