Upper-extremity motor recovery after stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis of usual care in trials and observational studies.

Background: A better knowledge of upper-extremity (UE) recovery in patients with stroke receiving usual care (UC) is crucial for informing clinicians on expected recovery and serves as reference for future studies.

Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess rate and amount of recovery of UE with UC in the subacute phase of stroke and identify covariates of UE recovery.

Methods: PRISMA-guidelines were used for search in PubMed, Cinahl and PEDro.

A novel intervention for upper limb rehabilitation in people with stroke combining myoelectric pattern recognition, virtual reality, and serious gaming: a qualitative study.

Purpose: To explore the perceptions and experiences of people with stroke participating in a novel upper limb intervention, combining myoelectric pattern recognition (MPR), virtual reality (VR), and serious gaming.

Material And Methods: Six individuals with chronic stroke and moderate to severe upper limb impairment were interviewed after 18 training sessions delivered over 6 weeks (total average practice time of 21 h). The semi-structured interviews were transcribed and analyzed with qualitative content analysis.

Myoelectric motor execution and sensory training to treat chronic pain and paralysis in a replanted arm: a case study.

Background: Following upper limb amputation, surgeries such as arm transplantation or replantation might be an option to restore function. After such surgeries, rehabilitation of the arm is needed. However, conventional rehabilitation is dependent on some volitional movement of the arm.

Extended reality used in the treatment of phantom limb pain: a multicenter, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Phantom limb pain (PLP) represents a significant challenge after amputation. This study investigated the use of phantom motor execution (PME) and phantom motor imagery (PMI) facilitated by extended reality (XR) for the treatment of PLP. Both treatments used XR, but PME involved overt execution of phantom movements, relying on the decoding of motor intent using machine learning to enable real-time control in XR.

Cutting Edge Bionics in Highly Impaired Individuals: A Case of Challenges and Opportunities.

Highly impaired individuals stand to benefit greatly from cutting-edge bionic technology, however concurrent functional deficits may complicate the adaptation of such technology. Here, we present a case in which a visually impaired individual with bilateral burn injury amputation was provided with a novel transradial neuromusculoskeletal prosthesis comprising skeletal attachment via osseointegration and implanted electrodes in nerves and muscles for control and sensory feedback. Difficulties maintaining implant hygiene and donning and doffing the prosthesis arose due to his contralateral amputation, ipsilateral eye loss, and contralateral impaired vision necessitating continuous adaptations to the electromechanical interface.

A highly integrated bionic hand with neural control and feedback for use in daily life.

Restoration of sensorimotor function after amputation has remained challenging because of the lack of human-machine interfaces that provide reliable control, feedback, and attachment. Here, we present the clinical implementation of a transradial neuromusculoskeletal prosthesis-a bionic hand connected directly to the user's nervous and skeletal systems. In one person with unilateral below-elbow amputation, titanium implants were placed intramedullary in the radius and ulna bones, and electromuscular constructs were created surgically by transferring the severed nerves to free muscle grafts.

Improved control of a prosthetic limb by surgically creating electro-neuromuscular constructs with implanted electrodes.

Remnant muscles in the residual limb after amputation are the most common source of control signals for prosthetic hands, because myoelectric signals can be generated by the user at will. However, for individuals with amputation higher up the arm, such as an above-elbow (transhumeral) amputation, insufficient muscles remain to generate myoelectric signals to enable control of the lost arm and hand joints, thus making intuitive control of wrist and finger prosthetic joints unattainable. We show that severed nerves can be divided along their fascicles and redistributed to concurrently innervate different types of muscle targets, particularly native denervated muscles and nonvascularized free muscle grafts.

Upper Limb Stroke Rehabilitation Using Surface Electromyography: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Upper limb impairment is common after stroke, and many will not regain full upper limb function. Different technologies based on surface electromyography (sEMG) have been used in stroke rehabilitation, but there is no collated evidence on the different sEMG-driven interventions and their effect on upper limb function in people with stroke.

Aim: Synthesize existing evidence and perform a meta-analysis on the effect of different types of sEMG-driven interventions on upper limb function in people with stroke.

Competitive motivation increased home use and improved prosthesis self-perception after Cybathlon 2020 for neuromusculoskeletal prosthesis user.

Background: Assistive technologies, such as arm prostheses, are intended to improve the quality of life of individuals with physical disabilities. However, certain training and learning is usually required from the user to make these technologies more effective. Moreover, some people can be encouraged to train more through competitive motivation.

Analysis and Design of a Bypass Socket for Transradial Amputations.

The ability to measure functional performance of a prosthesis is hindered by the lack of an equalized mechanical platform to test from. Researchers and designers seeking to increase the pace of development have attempted novel mounts for prostheses so these can be used by able-bodied participants. Termed "bypass sockets", these can increase the sampling pool during prosthetic evaluations.