The effects of robot-assisted left-hand training on hemispatial neglect in older patients with chronic stroke: A pilot and randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Even though a variety of rehabilitative technique have been implemented to ameliorate neglect symptoms of patients with stoke, the effects of limb activation using a robotic device are still unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the robot-assisted hand training on hemispatial neglect of older patients with chronic stroke.

METHODS: The participants were randomly allocated to the experimental group (EG) receiving robot-assisted left-hand training (n = 12) or the control group (CG) receiving conventional treatments for neglect symptoms (n = 12). All participants received 20 sessions for 4-week. To examine the effects on hemispatial neglect, the line bisection test (LBT), the Albert test, and the Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) were utilized. The outcome measures were analyzed before and after the 20 training sessions.

RESULTS: After the intervention, improvements in the LBT, the Albert test, and the CBS were found in the EG whereas there were significant improvements in the LBT and the CBS but not the Albert test in the CG. In addition, the EG showed a significantly greater gain in all outcome measures compared to the CG (p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that robot-assisted hand training was beneficial to improving the hemispatial neglect of elderly person with chronic stroke compared to the conventional treatments. Robot-assisted limb activation might be useful to ameliorate hemispatial neglect of the elderly with chronic stroke.