Recovery of Distal Arm Movements in Spinal Cord Injured Patients with a Body-Machine Interface: A Proof-of-Concept...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Cervical spinal cord injuries (cSCI) significantly impair upper limb function, limiting independence.
• Current rehabilitation often focuses on shoulder movements, neglecting the full arm.
• Body-machine interfaces (BoMI) offer a novel approach to harness residual movements for motor recovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To expand the application of BoMI for whole arm mobility, particularly elbow movements, in cSCI patients.
• To develop and validate an instrumented evaluation test and kinematic indicators for assessing motor recovery.
• To investigate the efficacy of a 5-week BoMI-based rehabilitation program.

Main Methods:

• Five inpatient cSCI subjects underwent a 5-week BoMI treatment alongside standard rehabilitation.
• BoMI sensors were placed on proximal and distal arm segments.
• The BoMI system encouraged symmetrical arm use and forearm mobility through gamified exercises.
• Kinematic data were collected pre-training, post-training, and at 3-month follow-up.

Main Results:

• All subjects successfully utilized the BoMI, engaging impaired movements effectively.
• Bilateral symmetry in body recruitment was achieved and maintained.
• Significant improvements in forearm activity and elbow motion angular amplitude were observed.
• Other kinematic parameters showed a trend towards normalization.

Conclusions:

• The developed BoMI system shows preliminary efficacy as a rehabilitation tool for cSCI.
• The proposed instrumental evaluation protocol and kinematic indicators are valuable for assessing motor recovery.
• BoMI holds potential for clinical application to enhance upper limb function in cSCI patients.