J Neuroeng Rehabil
-
There has been a recent interest in the development of body-machine interfaces which allow individuals with motor impairments to control assistive devices using body movements. ⋯ These results clearly establish the viability and robustness of the proposed non-invasive body-machine interface for pediatric populations with severe motor limitations.
-
Clinical Trial
Blending of brain-machine interface and vision-guided autonomous robotics improves neuroprosthetic arm performance during grasping.
Recent studies have shown that brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) offer great potential for restoring upper limb function. However, grasping objects is a complicated task and the signals extracted from the brain may not always be capable of driving these movements reliably. Vision-guided robotic assistance is one possible way to improve BMI performance. We describe a method of shared control where the user controls a prosthetic arm using a BMI and receives assistance with positioning the hand when it approaches an object. ⋯ Integration of BMI control with vision-guided robotic assistance led to improved performance on object transfer tasks. Providing assistance while maintaining generalizability will make BMI systems more attractive to potential users.
-
Clinical Trial
Quantitative evaluation for spasticity of calf muscle after botulinum toxin injection in patients with cerebral palsy: a pilot study.
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common pediatric disease to cause motor disability. Two common symptoms in CP are spasticity and contracture. If this occurred in the ankle plantar flexors of children with CP, it will impair their gait and active daily living profoundly. Most children with CP receive botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injection to reduce muscle tone, but a knowledge gap exists in the understanding of changes of neural and non-neural components of spasticity after injection. The purpose of this study was to determine if our device for quantitative modified Tardieu approach (QMTA) is a valid method to assess spasticity of calf muscles after botulinum toxin injection. ⋯ Our device for QMTA can objectively measure the changes in spasticity of the gastrocnemius muscle in children with cerebral palsy after BoNT-A injection.