Study on quantitative evaluation methods of therapeutic effects of sanding training

Abstract

In the future the final aims of our research are to quantitatively evaluate the therapeutic effect of upper limb motion during the training and to develop a new rehabilitation training support robot with the evaluation function. This paper presents new evaluation methods of therapeutic effect of a sanding training. The sanding training is one type of resistance training for upper limbs. Three methods to evaluate achievement level of sanding training, cooperative movement of healthy and disabled arms, and cooperative movement of forearm and upper arm are proposed. The validities of the proposed evaluation methods are examined using the measurement data of patients with hemiplegia. Moreover, the relationships between the evaluation results and the Brunnstrom Stage of the patients are examined.