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This paper aims to propose a bilateral robotic system for lower extremity hemiparesis rehabilitation. The hemiplegic patients can complete rehabilitation exercise voluntarily with the assistance of the robot. The reinforcement learning is included in the robot control system, enhancing the muscle activation of the impaired limbs (ILs) efficiently with ensuring the patients’ safety.

A bilateral leader–follower robotic system is constructed for lower extremity hemiparesis rehabilitation, where the leader robot interacts with the healthy limb (HL) and the follow robot is worn by the IL. The therapeutic training is transferred from the HL to the IL with the assistance of the robot, and the IL follows the motion trajectory prescribed by the HL, which is called the mirror therapy. The model reference adaptive impedance control is used for the leader robot, and the reinforcement learning controller is designed for the follower robot. The reinforcement learning aims to increase the muscle activation of the IL and ensure that its motion can be mastered by the HL for safety. An asynchronous algorithm is designed by improving experience relay to run in parallel on multiple robotic platforms to reduce learning time.

Through clinical tests, the lower extremity hemiplegic patients can rehabilitate with high efficiency using the robotic system. Also, the proposed scheme outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in tracking performance, muscle activation, learning efficiency and rehabilitation efficacy.

Using the aimed robotic system, the lower extremity hemiplegic patients with different movement abilities can obtain better rehabilitation efficacy.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the physiotherapeutic benefits of bilateral symmetric training (BST) for stroke survivors affected by hemiparesis.

Other studies have investigated symmetric physiotherapy. A key difficulty in previous work is in maintaining mirror-imaged trajectories between the affected and less-affected limbs. This obstacle was overcome in this work by using a two-armed robotic exoskeleton to enforce symmetry. In total, 15 subjects, > 6 months post stroke were, randomly assigned to bilateral symmetric robotic training, unilateral robotic training, and standard physical therapy.

After 12 training sessions (90 minutes/session), the bilateral training group had the greatest intensity of movement training. They also had the greatest improvement in range of motion at the shoulder. The unilateral training group showed the greatest reduction in spasticity.

The rationale for symmetric physiotherapy is that it might promote connections from the undamaged brain hemisphere. The robot generated copious amounts of detailed kinematic data. Even though these data provided insights into the human to machine interface using different training modalities, it proved difficult to draw neurological conclusions. It is recommended that future research along these lines should include measures of neurophysiological change and/or changes in neurological activity.

This research suggests that the advantage of bilateral symmetric movement over other modalities is slight, and that robotic training has comparable results with standard care. If BST is used, care is potentially needed to avoid exacerbation of spasticity. Finally, this research includes a novel quantitative approach for evaluating robotic training.

This study is of value to therapeutic researchers interested in new physiotherapy techniques, roboticists interested in developing rehabilitation devices, or for rehabilitation game designers interested in using virtual reality.

Sturge-Weber-Krabe syndrome (SWS), also known as encephalotrigeminalangiomatosis and named the forthfacomatosis, recall the names of the authors who first describedit in its basic clinical, radiological andanatomopathological aspects. We report here 14 cases of Sturge-Weber disease. In 6 of these, despite what had been previously described in literature, an extension of the angioma has been noted in other parts of the body. The study of these subjects stresses not only the need for a pharmacological/neuropsychomotor intervention, but alsothe need of a psychotherapeutic approach, for the emotional and affective implications thatcould derive from this syndrome. The reported cases are similar to those presented in literature for their main features. In particular, two elements are interesting: i) the exceptional diffusion of the red nevousto the whole hemicorpo; and ii) the evaluation of the way the patients live the disease, which has not beenpreviously considered in literature. We can conclude that SWS is a multisystem disorder that requires the neurologist to be aware of the possible endocrine, psychiatric, ophthalmological, and other medical issues that can arise and impact on the neurological status of the patients.

Stroke patients with low and very low functional movement are not usually considered suitable for rehabilitation. Without therapy the more-affected side will not improve and may lose any residual function. Poor movement ability reduces independence and limits the social engagement of such patients. The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether Wii-based Movement Therapy was suitable and beneficial for stroke patients with low and very low movement ability.

In total, 13 patients aged 22-77 years and three months to 21 years post-stroke completed the standardised 14-day protocol of Wii-based Movement Therapy. Therapy is a structured and targeted programme, tailored to the individual needs and deficits of each patient. Functional ability was assessed using a suite of tools. Increased use of the more-affected hand and arm in everyday life was assessed using the Quality of Movement subscale of the Motor Activity Log.

Functional movement of the more-affected hand and arm improved by 40 per cent on the Fugl-Meyer Assessment. Hand-use in everyday tasks more than doubled and improvements were also seen in lower-limb function, balance, and cardiovascular function. Qualitative improvements in psychological status were also noted.

The paper demonstrates that stroke patients with low and very low movement ability post-stroke can benefit from upper-limb rehabilitation. Wii-based Movement Therapy is a viable and effective option with high patient compliance.

The patients in this study became less disabled. Improving movement ability of stroke survivors will not only increase their independence in activities of daily living but will also reduce the burden of care on patients, their families and the community.

Individuals with severe speech and language impairment as a result of chronic severe Broca's aphasia may rely on non‐speech communication aids to augment or replace speech. These aids include speech‐generating devices and graphic symbol software programs that produce synthetic speech upon activation. Previous research has indicated that individuals with chronic severe Broca's aphasia are able to identify, manipulate, and combine graphic symbols to produce simple phrases and sentences. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of three individuals with chronic severe Broca's aphasia to produce graphic symbol sentences of varying levels of complexity using a speech generating device. A single‐subject multiple‐baseline design across behaviours replicated across three participants was used to assess the effect of AAC intervention on the production of sentences using graphic symbols. Findings indicated that individuals with chronic severe Broca's aphasia were able to combine graphic symbols to produce sentences of varying levels of complexity. The results of this study suggest that technologically‐based AAC intervention approaches can be effective in facilitating communication for individuals with chronic severe Broca's aphasia. The overall findings are discussed in terms of clinical and public policy implications.

Strokes are the most common cause of long-term disability of adults in developed countries. Continuous participation in rehabilitation can alleviate some of the consequences, and support recovery of stroke patients. However, physical rehabilitation requires commitment to tedious exercise routines over lengthy periods of time, which often cause patients to dropout of this form of therapy. In this context, game-based stroke rehabilitation has the potential to address two important barriers: accessibility of rehabilitation, and patient motivation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper provides a review of design efforts in human-computer interaction (HCI) and gaming research to support stroke rehabilitation.

Based on extensive review, this paper highlights challenges and opportunities in this area, and discusses an architecture guideline for a game-based stroke rehabilitation system.

This study was an original study.

Despite increasing evidence for the effectiveness of off-the-shelf and rehabilitation-specific active video games (AVGs) and virtual reality (VR) systems for rehabilitation, clinical uptake remains poor. A better match between VR/AVG system capabilities and client/therapist needs, through improved end-user involvement (UI) in VR/AVG implementation research, may increase uptake of this technology. The purpose of this paper is to review four case examples from the authors’ collective experience of including end users in VR/AVG research to identify common benefits, challenges and lessons learned.

The authors apply knowledge and lessons learned from the four cases to make recommendations for subsequent user-engaged research design and methods, including evaluation of the impact of end UI.

A better match between VR/AVG system capabilities and client/therapist needs leads to improved end UI in all stages of VR/AVG implementation research. There are common benefits of increasing buy-in and soliciting early on the knowledge and skills of therapists as well as input from the ultimate end users: people participating in rehabilitation. Most settings have the challenges of balancing the technology requirements with the needs and goals of the practice setting and of the end users.

Increasing end UI in VR/AVG implementation research may address issues related to poor clinical uptake. In the VR/AVG context, end users can be therapists, clients or technology developers/engineers. This paper presented four case scenarios describing the implementation of different VR/AVG systems and involving a variety of populations, end users and settings.

The set of recommendations for subsequent user-engaged research design and methods span the process of development, research and implementation. The authors hope that these recommendations will foster collaborations across disciplines, encourage researchers and therapists to adopt VR/AVGs more readily, and lead to efficacious and effective treatment approaches for rehabilitation clients.

The purpose of this study is to see whether the figure of eight walkings (F8W) is a reliable outcome measure in rehabilitation care especially for the older population who need extensive consideration in their practical functional affairs.

The literature review was conducted by researching various databases such as Google Scholar, Pub Med and Web of Science, Scopus. Journals with Good impact factors were included in this study.

This review suggested that F8W could be the realistic outcome measure for rehabilitation in patients with musculoskeletal and neurological dysfunctions that could identify disability and functional impairments more deeply. Future studies in this field may provide further exploration in physiotherapy rehabilitation.

The study was a short review with limited resources. Its’ findings and outputs must be considered prelusive.

The accustomed routine of manhood accounts for constant twists and turns which is entirely incompatible with a linear walk. In such a manner, walking in the figure of eight could detect the major perplexity faced by an individual in his habitual pursuing affairs predominately in orthopedics and neurological disorders.

The study has suggested the utility of F8W as a reliable tool in the rehabilitation of the elder population, evidence suggests, F8W constitutes curvy and straight paths, which could trace troubles while turning and maintaining coordination. These results of this study can serve as a foundation for future studies.

At the moment, in terms of both research and commercial products, smart shoe technology and applications seem not to attract the same magnitude of attention compared to smart garments and other smart wearables such as wrist watches and wrist bands. The purpose of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by discussing issues regarding smart shoe sensing technologies, smart shoe sensor placements, factors that affect sensor placements and finally the areas of smart shoe applications.

Through a review of relevant literature, this study first and foremost attempts to explain what constitutes a smart shoe and subsequently discusses the current trends in smart shoe applications. Discussed in this study are relevant sensing technologies, sensor placement and areas of smart shoe applications.

This study outlined 13 important areas of smart shoe applications. It also uncovered that majority of smart shoe functionality are physical activity tracking, health rehabilitation and ambulation assistance for the blind. Also highlighted in this review are some of the bottlenecks of smart shoe development.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive review paper focused on smart shoe applications, and therefore serves as an apt reference for researchers within the field of smart footwear.