Effectiveness of robo-assisted lower limb rehabilitation for spastic patients: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Though many rehabilitative treatments are available for treatment of spasticity, thus the effectiveness of different robo-rehabilitative devices needs to be evaluated through a systematic review.

Objective: The objective of this study is to focuses on the efficacy of Robot assistive rehabilitation device for the removal of spasticity from the lower limb of Spastic patients.

Data sourcessources: PubMed, Web of Sciences, EMBASE (Excerpta Medical database), CDSR (Cochrane database of systematic reviews), Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Wiley online library, MEDLINE (OvidSP), Science Direct, Springer Link were from January 1980 to September 2017 DATA EXTRACTIONEXTRACTION: Seventy-one publications from eleven databases published were selected using keywords Ankle foot, spasticity, robotic rehabilitation, efficacy of robotics and Ankle foot rehabilitation. The review is narrowed down to twenty-six articles which were selected for they focused on effects of Robot assistive rehabilitation device quantitatively.

Result: A quantitative study from analyzing 26 studies comprising of 786 subjects is carried out. The major outcome of the effectiveness of the robot assistive therapy for the movement of ankle and functioning of gait is deduced. As the used protocols and treatment procedures vary, made comparative study complex or impracticable.

Conclusion: Robo-rehabilitation possesses an ability to provide unified therapy protocols with greater ease in comparison to conventional therapies. They continuously prove to be irreplaceable assistant devices when it comes to providing excellent treatment in terms of improvement from this study. Though many mechatronic devices are available but the devices for treatment of early stage rehabilitation of stroke patients is very limited.

Keywords: Active Ankle Foot Orthosis(AAFO); Central Nervous System (CNS); Dorsiflexion (DF); Plantar Flexion (PF); Spasticity.