Knee orthopaedic device how robotic technology can improve outcome in knee rehabilitation

Abstract

Following knee injury or surgery, knee rehabilitation therapy is an essential step to recover normal joint function for daily activities. Physical rehabilitation can take several weeks or even months until full range of motion and joint flexibility are regained. Knee rehabilitation will lead to satisfactory results only at the condition that exercises are performed regularly. An important part in knee rehabilitation is the patellar mobilization which is nowadays performed manually by the physical therapist. This paper presents a new approach for assisting patellar mobilization during knee rehabilitation programs. The use of a robotic device for physiotherapy allows to perform exercises on a regular basis during the whole recovery period and to quantify therapy progress. The physical therapist creates a personalized training protocol depending on the patient's pathology and supervises the training program at the clinic. After several days at the clinics, the patient usually returns back home. Using the robotic device, she or he repeats predefined training sequences over several weeks. The device provides immediate feedback to the patient and the therapist. This feedback also helps the therapist to assess training progress when the patient comes to the therapy center for control sessions. Functional tests in clinics have shown that the use of an automated device for knee therapy increases the patient's motivation and supports the physical therapist in adjusting training programs for optimal joint recovery.