Optimize Motor Learning to Improve Neurorehabilitation

NCT ID: NCT04759976

Last Updated: 2025-09-04

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 259 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-01-25
• Study Completion Date: 2024-10-16

Brief Summary

The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate novel robotic training strategies that modulate errors based on the subjects' individual motor and cognitive needs. For this purpose, healthy adults and neurologic patients will participate in robotic motor learning experiments. Patients have a diagnosis of a neurological disease (i.e., stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barré syndrome) limiting arm motor function.

Detailed Description

Neurological patients (e.g., after stroke) engage in intensive and expensive neurorehabilitation therapy to regain part of their former motor functional ability to perform everyday activities with often limited and unsatisfactory outcome. Robots became a promising supplement or even alternative for neurorehabilitation therapy, providing cost-effective, high repetition and task-oriented training. However, results of an initial body of work comparing the effectiveness of robotic training strategies are highly inconclusive. A possible explanation is that most current robotic systems cover only one neurorehabilitation strategy (e.g. reducing or augmenting movement errors) and may thus insufficiently address the subjects' individual needs and the characteristics of the task to be learned. In this study, Investigators will perform several motor learning experiments with healthy adult and neurological patients in order to evaluate the relative motor and cognitive benefits of newly developed robotic training strategies that modulate errors based on the subject's age, skill level and tasks characteristics. The effects of the new strategies will be compared to classical robotic assistance, and to non-robotic feedback approaches, such as visual feedback. The culmination of this work may help to optimize training benefits of already existing rehabilitation robots.

Conditions

Stroke; Neurologic Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Robotic motor training

Participants will perform motor tasks (i.e. movements) with upper limb robotic devices applying different strategies (e.g. supporting or challenging the subject, or being fully compliant).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Robotic motor training

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The experiments consist in performing motor tasks with upper-limb robotic devices.

Interventions

Robotic motor training

The experiments consist in performing motor tasks with upper-limb robotic devices.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Aged ≥18 years
• Informed Consent as documented by signature ("Informed Consent" form)
• Bodyweight <120 kg
• Ability to communicate effectively with the examiner so that the validity of the patient's data could not be compromised

Exclusion Criteria

• Excessive spasticity of the affected arm (Ashworth Scale ≥3)
• Serious medical or psychiatric disorder
• Orthopaedic, rheumatological, or other disease restricting movements of the paretic arm
• Shoulder subluxation
• Skin ulcerations at the paretic arm
• Cyber-sickness (i.e., nausea when looking at a screen or playing computer games)
• Serious cognitive defects or aphasia preventing effective use of the robotic devices
• Severe visual and auditory impairments

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Bern

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Laura Marchal-Crespo, Prof. Dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Bern, ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research

Locations

University of Bern

Bern, , Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

References

Ozen O, Buetler KA, Marchal-Crespo L. Towards functional robotic training: motor learning of dynamic tasks is enhanced by haptic rendering but hampered by arm weight support. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2022 Feb 13;19(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s12984-022-00993-w.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35152897 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

2018-01179

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id