Improvement and Assessment of Motor Rehabilitation with Control Engineering Methods

Two medical engineering projects will be presented that are in the field of motor rehabilitation after stroke. The first project focuses on the restitution of hand and finger movements. The concept is the generation of proprioceptive afferent input by position controlled muscle stimulation. As innovative stimulation method the Repetitive Peripheral Magnetic Stimulation (RPMS) is used. Secondly, a novel control method (Complementary Limb Motion Estimation, CLME) for automated treadmill training for hemiparetic patients is presented. CLME deduces reference motion for the impaired limbs based on the contralateral leg. This method aims to increase the patient's involvement and dominance during rehabilitation, while the robot acts as an assistive slave.