A Tenodesis-Induced-Grip exoskeleton robot (TIGER) for assisting upper extremity functions in stroke patients: a randomized control study

Purpose This study was aimed toward developing a lightweight assisting tenodesis-induced-grip exoskeleton robot (TIGER) and to examine the performance of the TIGER in stroke patients with hemiplegia. Methods This was a single-blinded, randomized control trial with pre-treatment, immediate post-treatment, and 12-week follow-up assessments. Thirty-four stroke patients were recruited and randomized to either an experimental or control group, where each participant in both groups underwent 40 min of training. In addition to a 20-min bout of regular task-specific motor training, each participant in the experimental group received 20 min of TIGER training, and the controls received 20 min of traditional occupational therapy in each treatment session. Primary outcomes based on the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment of Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) were recorded. Results Thirty-two patients (94.1%) completed the study: 17 and 15 patients in the experimental and control groups, respectively. Significant beneficial effects were found on the total score (ANCOVA, p = 0.006), the wrist score (ANCOVA, p = 0.037), and the hand score (ANCOVA, p = 0.006) for the FMA-UE in the immediate post-treatment assessment of the participants receiving the TIGER training. Conclusion The TIGER has beneficial effects on remediating upper limb impairments in chronic stroke patients.

Automated summary

This study aimed to develop a lightweight assisting tenodesis-induced-grip exoskeleton robot (TIGER) and evaluate its performance in stroke patients with hemiplegia. The results showed significant beneficial effects of TIGER training on remediating upper limb impairments in chronic stroke patients.