A Comparative Study among Constraint, Robot-Aided and Standard Therapies in Upper Limb Rehabilitation of Children with Acquired Brain Injury

The functional recovery of upper limbs is one of the goals of the rehabilitation of children affected by Acquired Brain Injury. Sensorimotor stimulation exercises, particularly the Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) and robot-aided therapy are promising in children. However, exhaustive data about their effectiveness in the clinical practice and differences of these treatments still lack in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to perform a preliminary comparative evaluation among CIMT, robot-aided therapy with Armeo (R) Spring and conventional physiokinesitherapy about their efficacy in upper limb rehabilitation of children after ABI. A group of 10 children was treated with two of the three abovementioned therapies, randomly chosen in the order. The evaluation included clinical and functional scales as well as 3D kinematics to objectively measure the outcome. Our results showed improvements at the elbow and shoulder after CIMT and ARMEO, whereas physiokinesitherapy frequently showed changes in the opposite direction. Further, many improvements in terms of trunk rotation and joints selectivity were conveyed by the robot-aided therapy. Future studies will be aimed at increasing the sample size and thus generalizing these results.