Saturday, August 08, 2015

ArmeoPower Exoskeleton Device has Been Launched for Integrated Arm and Hand Rehabilitation for Patients That Have had a Stroke.

Dean Reinke
Deans’ Stroke Musing
Friday, August 7, 2015

Just in case you need to tell your stroke department how to do their job. I bet they are failing because they are not following current research and rehabilitation possibilities. 51 other exoskeleton writeups here.  And I bet your stroke department has none.

If we had a decent stroke association it would be monitoring all the stroke hospitals to see how up-to-date they are. But we don't so we have no clue how badly run our stroke departments are because none are posting recovery statistics - ArmeoPower Exoskeleton Device has Been Launched for Integrated Arm and Hand Rehabilitation for Patients That Have had a Stroke.

Hocoma, a global leader in robotic and sensor-based devices for functional movement therapy, have designed the device with an integrated robotic hand module called ‘ManovoPower’, to offer simultaneous therapy from an individual’s shoulder to their fingers, providing a complete movement chain.

Dr Vaclav Potesil, Armeo product manager at Hocoma, said: “The device provides hospitals with an enriched environment to train and assess even severely impaired patients with much higher intensity, accuracy and reproducibility than what is possible in today’s clinical setting. The new therapy planning and reporting enables clinicians to tailor the therapy to each patient, thereby keeping them challenged and motivated.

Strokes occur approximately 152,000 times a year in the UK, with one happening every three minutes and 27 seconds. The Stroke Association, a UK-based charity, suggest that a stroke is the largest cause of complex disability, with half of all stroke survivors living with one.

ArmeoPower enables highly intensive arm rehabilitation for early-stage stroke patients, before they develop active movement. Recent US research has shown that highly intensive, repetitive task-oriented movements enhance the neural plasticity of patients who have suffered strokes, traumatic brain injury or neurological disorders. The ArmeoPower robotic therapy helps patients to regain their arm and hand function by combining devices supporting their movement with fun exercise games in virtual reality, which motivate them towards higher active effort.

Innovative hospitals in Europe and America have installed the exclusive experimental series of the new ArmeoPower to provide the first experience with the successful integration of the medical device into clinical routine.

MossRehab, a provider of inpatient and outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation in Philadelphia, has evaluated the new medical device and is convinced of its success. Dr Alberto Esquenazi, pilot user of the ArmeoPower and department chief medical officer at MossRehab, commented: “We know that patients with hemiparesis will greatly benefit from integrated movement rehabilitation techniques, but we had no concrete options for this approach so far. But now, ArmeoPower offers us for the first time a technology that enables us to achieve this goal by intelligently supporting the complete movement chain from the shoulder to the fingers.

The Armeo Therapy Concept is a sustainable and powerful rehabilitation concept for individuals who have had strokes, resulting in hand and arm impairment. Concept includes four distinct products for upper extremity neurological rehabilitation, which cover all stages of the recovery process, from the most severely affected early-stage patients to long-term rehabilitation in out-patient settings.



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