Development of sensory feedback by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for stroke rehabilitation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25882060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: KITA Kahori 千葉大学, フロンティア医工学センター, 助教 (60550548)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: リハビリテーション / 脳卒中 / 感覚麻痺 / 感覚フィードバック / 電気刺激

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Sensory disturbance is very common following stroke, and severe sensory loss may inhibit the ability of patients to use the affected upper limb in daily activities, even when they have good motor function. We hypothesized that task-specific training with sensory feedback may improve patients’ ability to manipulate objects. We developed a system of sensory feedback using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (SENS) for stroke rehabilitation and investigated its effectiveness. In this study, we conducted a case studies with stroke patients. The instability of tip pressure during a cube pinch and lifting task was improved after one hour’s training with SENS, although it was not changed by training without SENS. We concluded that SENS would be useful in the rehabilitation of stroke patients with sensory loss.

Free Research Field

リハビリテーション工学