Arm Robots Are Not The Answer For Stroke Rehabilitation

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Commercial arm robots are increasingly deployed in order to aid stroke patients in their recovery. Around 80% of patients have problems with their arm function. Robots are also seen as a solution to financial, and staffing, shortcomings in the health care sector. However, research led by Amsterdam UMC now shows that they offer no clinically meaningful effects for patients. The research is published in Neurology .

"In particular countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, but also in North America and Europe, UL-Robots [are] seen more and more as the solution for lack of intensive upper limb training. But our research shows that they really need to be rethought if they are ever to meaningfully contribute to [the] care package that we can offer," says Gert Kwakkel, Professor of Neurorehabilitation at Amsterdam UMC and the leader of the study that started in May 2020.

The researchers analyzed 90 studies using data from more than 4,000 patients who rehabilitated after a stroke with or without the help of arm robots.

The results of the study show that, despite a small improvement of about 3% in muscle and arm function , this did not result in an improvement in arm-hand dexterity. Furthermore, it appears that the health care costs are only higher with the purchase of a robot than with regular treatment with a physiotherapist or occupational therapist.