Robot-Assisted Ankle Rehabilitation Training on an Adult With Cerebral Palsy: A Case Report

Abstract

Robot-assisted rehabilitation techniques have advantages over conventional physiotherapy in terms of control accuracy, repeatability and objectiveness. Several systematic reviews on the effectiveness of robot-assisted ankle rehabilitation have been conducted. It was found that most were effective for the treatment of ankle injuries, although the comparative results could not be identified. However, evidence involving the clinical effectiveness of robotic ankle therapy on adult patients with cerebral palsy (CP) is lacking. This paper presents a case study of robot-assisted ankle rehabilitation on an adult patient with CP. Biomechanical outcomes were evaluated before and after each session with a 10-week-intervention trial by using a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) device (ARTROMOT®-SP3) for ankle rehabilitation. Both passive and passive-active programs were conducted. Evaluation measures include ankle range of motion (ROM), stiffness and active strength. Experimental results show a distinct recovery progress in ankle movement ability. The participant achieved increased ankle ROM and active strength, and decreased ankle stiffness. This case report demonstrates the effectiveness of robotic training to recover a CP patient’s motor functions and also provides a basis for future study with more clinical trials.