Unsupervised robot-assisted rehabilitation after stroke: feasibility, effect on therapy dose, and user experience.

Background: Unsupervised robot-assisted rehabilitation is a promising approach to increase the dose of therapy after stroke, which may help promote sensorimotor recovery without requiring significant additional resources and manpower. However, the unsupervised use of robotic technologies is not yet a standard, as rehabilitation robots often show low usability or are considered unsafe to be used by patients independently. In this paper we explore the feasibility of unsupervised therapy with an upper limb rehabilitation robot in a clinical setting, evaluate the effect on the overall therapy dose, and assess user experience during unsupervised use of the robot and its usability.

Progressive Transition From Supervised to Unsupervised Robot-Assisted Therapy After Stroke: Protocol for a Single-Group, Interventional Feasibility Study.

Background: Increasing the dose of therapy delivered to patients with stroke may improve functional outcomes and quality of life. Unsupervised technology-assisted rehabilitation is a promising way to increase the dose of therapy without dramatically increasing the burden on the health care system. Despite the many existing technologies for unsupervised rehabilitation, active rehabilitation robots have rarely been tested in a fully unsupervised way.

Transforming waiting pauses into opportunity for physical activity: the "Activate your Wait" pilot study.

Background And Aim: Physical activity is recognized as a major health determinant. However, the prevalence of inactivity can be as high as 80% in some adult subpopulations. From the urgent need to implement strategies to fight sedentary behaviour, considering that physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure, the pilot study "Activate your Wait" was born.

Automatic and Personalized Adaptation of Therapy Parameters for Unsupervised Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation: a Pilot Evaluation.

Growing evidence shows that increasing the dose of upper limb therapy after stroke might improve functional outcomes and unsupervised robot-assisted therapy may be a solution to achieve such an increase without adding workload on therapists. However, most of existing robotic devices still need frequent supervision by trained personnel and are currently not designed or ready for unsupervised use. One reason for this is that most rehabilitation devices are not capable of delivering and adapting personalized therapy without external intervention.

["Activate your Wait" project : pilot study carried out at a thermal centre].

Physical activity is recognised as a major health determinant, with positive effects on health, environmental sustainability and economy. National surveillance data show that one out of three Italians - adult and elderly alike - declares to be sedentary, with a progressively increasing trend. From the urgent need to implement strategies to promote physical activity the “Activate your Wait” (“Attiva l’Attesa”) project was born, aimed at transforming the waiting pauses during day to day life into opportunities to perform simple stretching and active mobilization exercises.

Efficacy of Whole-Body Vibration Board Training on Strength in Athletes After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Objective: To evaluate whether an 8-week whole-body vibration training program may improve recovery of knee flexion/extension muscular strength in athletes after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Single outpatient rehabilitation center.

Short-term effect of local muscle vibration treatment versus sham therapy on upper limb in chronic post-stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: In recent years, local muscle vibration received considerable attention as a useful method for muscle stimulation in clinical therapy. Some studies described specific vibration training protocol, and few of them were conducted on post-stroke patients. Therefore there is a general uncertainty regarding the vibrations protocol.

Efficacy of mechano-acoustic vibration on strength, pain, and function in poststroke rehabilitation: a pilot study.

Background: Vibration therapy may be used to help cortical reorganization after stroke as it can cause different adaptive metabolic and mechanical effects.

Objective: This study examined whether the application of mechano-acoustic vibration on upper limb muscles could induce changes in range of motion (ROM), function, pain, and grip strength in individuals with chronic stroke.

Methods: Out of 52 individuals post stroke with upper limb spasticity who were eligible,16 received mechano-acoustic vibration therapy (ViSS device) 3 times weekly for 12 sessions.

Effectiveness of Back School program versus hydrotherapy in elderly patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: a randomized clinical trial.

Background And Aim Of The Work: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a major cause of disability, for which clinical practice guidelines suggest exercise programs, such as Back School program (stretching and selective muscle reinforcement techniques) and Hydrotherapy technique, as an effective treatment to reduce pain intensity and disability.

Methods: We enrolled 56 elderly individuals, affected by non-specific CLBP, whose pain had worsened in the last three months, which were randomly allocated to Back School (group A) or to Hydrotherapy program (group B). Each group underwent two one-hour-treatment sessions per week, over a 12-week period.

Isokinetic strength test and functional outcomes in proximal humeral fractures treated with a locking plate.

Background: Despite the use of many shoulder outcome scales in subjects with rotator cuff pathology or instability symptoms, it can be problematic to select an instrumental evaluation in the shoulder trauma population. In this study we evaluated patients with proximal humeral fractures treated with internal fixation with a locking plate, analyzing the recovery of strength with an isokinetic test and its correlation with clinical and functional outcomes.

Methods: We enrolled 46 individuals (17 men, 29 women).

Return to run after partial amputation of the ankle: clinical assessment and instrumental evaluation.

Background And Aim Of The Work: the traumatic amputation or partial amputation of a portion of the lower limb is one of the most serious and not so rare road accident and job injury. There are few cases reported of replantation of the lower extremities rather than amputation surgery. This work describes a case of partial amputation of the right ankle.