Design strategies to improve patient motivation during robot-aided rehabilitation

Roberto Colombo,Paolo Dario,Giuseppe Minuco,M Chiara Carrozza,Alessandra Mazzone,Carmen Delconte,Silvestro Micera,Fabrizio Pisano

doi:10.1186/1743-0003-4-3

Abstract

BackgroundMotivation is an important factor in rehabilitation and frequently used as a determinant of rehabilitation outcome. Several factors can influence patient motivation and so improve exercise adherence. This paper presents the design of two robot devices for use in the rehabilitation of upper limb movements, that can motivate patients during the execution of the assigned motor tasks by enhancing the gaming aspects of rehabilitation. In addition, a regular review of the obtained performance can reinforce in patients' minds the importance of exercising and encourage them to continue, so improving their motivation and consequently adherence to the program. In view of this, we also developed an evaluation metric that could characterize the rate of improvement and quantify the changes in the obtained performance.MethodsTwo groups (G1, n = 8 and G2, n = 12) of patients with chronic stroke were enrolled in a 3-week rehabilitation program including standard physical therapy (45 min. daily) plus treatment by means of robot devices (40 min., twice daily) respectively for wrist (G1) and elbow-shoulder movements (G2). Both groups were evaluated by means of standard clinical assessment scales and the new robot measured evaluation metric. Patients' motivation was assessed in 9/12 G2 patients by means of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) questionnaire.ResultsBoth groups reduced their motor deficit and showed a significant improvement in clinical scales and the robot measured parameters. The IMI assessed in G2 patients showed high scores for interest, usefulness and importance subscales and low values for tension and pain subscales.ConclusionThanks to the design features of the two robot devices the therapist could easily adapt training to the individual by selecting different difficulty levels of the motor task tailored to each patient's disability. The gaming aspects incorporated in the two rehabilitation robots helped maintain patients' interest high during execution of the assigned tasks by providing feedback on performance. The evaluation metric gave a precise measure of patients' performance and thus provides a tool to help therapists promote patient motivation and hence adherence to the training program.

Highlights

Motivation is an important factor in rehabilitation and frequently used as a determinant of rehabilitation outcome
Thanks to the design features of the two robot devices the therapist could adapt training to the individual by selecting different difficulty levels of the motor task tailored to each patient's disability
The gaming aspects incorporated in the two rehabilitation robots helped maintain patients' interest high during execution of the assigned tasks by providing feedback on performance

Summary

Introduction

Motivation is an important factor in rehabilitation and frequently used as a determinant of rehabilitation outcome. Recent epidemiological data point to an increasing trend in prevalence of stroke and this fact has prompted novel treatment approaches based on robot-aided neurorehabilitation Many researchers using these new rehabilitation tools have investigated upper limb rehabilitation effects by means of detailed kinematic analyses before and after treatment. A robot device based on recent studies of neuro-adaptive control, has been used to generate custom training forces to "trick" subjects into altering their target-directed reaching movements to a prechosen movement as an after-effect of adaptation [9] This system applies a form of "implicit learning" for teaching motor skills, so demonstrating that it is possible to learn at a quasi-subconscious level with minimal attention and less motivation than more explicit types of practice like pattern tracing

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