Evaluation of Stroke Rehabilitation through Extracting and Quantifying Voluntariness of Movement

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K11286
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 59010:Rehabilitation science-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo Denki University (2022-2023); Nara Institute of Science and Technology (2021)
• Principal Investigator: Cho Sung-Gwi 東京電機大学, 理工学部, 助教 (50881653)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 横田 千晶 国立研究開発法人国立循環器病研究センター, 病院, 医長 (80300979) ; 高松 淳 奈良先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 客員教授 (90510884)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 運動の随意性 / 皮膚変形 / 距離センサアレイ / 他動運動 / 自動運動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, to apply to stroke rehabilitation, we developed a method to extract and quantify the "voluntariness" of movement by analyzing the differences in skin deformation during self-initiated active movements and passive movements conducted by a third person. To verify the usefulness of the developed method, we measured the skin deformation of the upper arm under various conditions during elbow flexion and extension movements and extracted movement features. The results indicated that the movement features, which only change during active movements, showed greater variation compared to passive movements and that this variation was proportional to the load of the movement, confirming the potential of these features to reflect the voluntariness of the movement.

Free Research Field

医療福祉工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまでの脳卒中リハビリテーションでは、自立度や課題到達度に着目した評価指標が用いられてきた。このような評価法は簡便である一方、機能回復過程で見られる随意性に伴う細かな変化を反映することは困難である。したがって、従来の評価指標と本研究で開発された「随意性」の抽出・定量化手法を組み合わせることにより、患者の運動機能の回復過程を連続的な量として客観化することが可能となり、リハビリテーションの評価精度の向上が期待される。