A wearable vibrotactile device for upper-limb bilateral motion training in stroke rehabilitation: A case study

Real-time feedback is essential for motor learning. Automated feedback is especially valuable for at-home stroke rehabilitation in the absence of therapist supervision. This study examined the effect of real-time corrective vibrotactile feedback for training bilateral reaching motions. A bilateral upper-limb motor learning system, comprising a wireless wearable sleeve-armband device for providing vibrotactile feedback, a computer target game, and a customized motion tracking technology, was developed and evaluated on both hemiparetic stroke survivors and able-bodied people. This paper introduces the system and presents preliminary data for one hemiparetic stroke subject and one healthy subject performing bimanual reaching motions in the transverse plane. Vibrotactile training was found to successfully alter both subjects' original trajectories and to improve the motion symmetry of the stroke subject. These preliminary findings indicated the potential efficacy of vibrotactile cues for unsupervised motor learning in both the healthy and the stroke populations.