Home

State

District of Columbia

National Resource

Yes

Topics

Assistive Technology

Keywords

Cerebral palsy, Exoskeleton Robot, Motor impairments, Neurological recovery, Stroke, Upper Extremity, university, RERC, research, engineering

Description

This rehabilitation engineering research center (RERC-DC) at Catholic University of America promotes rehabilitation engineering-based devices, strategies, techniques, and interventions that can facilitate activity and mobility following neurologic injuries, specifically home-based technologies for treating motor impairments.

Services Provided

Over the last decade, with the help of innovative devices, technologies, and protocols, rehabilitation has evolved from compensation for impairment to goals of recovery through neurorehabilitation. The ultimate goal is improved integration of impaired limbs into functional activities in the home and community. However, treatment and assessments are done predominantly in the clinic by therapists. Home-based technologies can have a large impact by providing tools to augment clinic-based delivery with assessments that are more valid and treatments that are less expensive, more convenient, and potentially more effective. The need to travel to the clinic to receive treatment from a therapist severely limits access for many patients and may blunt the effectiveness of some interventions. To bridge this gap, this RERC focuses research (R) and development (D) efforts on home-based technologies to treat motor impairments. D1 develops wearable upper extremity exoskeletons that can be integrated into activities of daily living for individuals with stroke. D2 develops an ankle-based robotic platform combined with video games for home-based rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy. There are no clinically-accepted, objective methods of assessing spontaneous use of impaired limbs in the home and community. R1 tracks sensorimotor development and predicts future outcomes in infants at risk for motor delay using home-based video and specially designed toys that provide novel sensory feedback. R2 studies machine learning algorithms and wrist worn accelerometry for objectively measuring the amount of functional arm use in persons with stroke. R3 investigates factors that affect the everyday choices made by persons with stroke to either use an impaired upper extremity or compensate with the opposite limb. This is critical to understand, as even mild stroke-related impairment, when measured in the clinic, can result in very little spontaneous functional use at home. Rehabilitation technologies are often rejected by consumers. D3 explores the patient and caregiver perspective on these home-based technologies and develop guidelines and best practices for how to translate all these technologies into the home.

Contact Information

Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Patient-Centered, Home-Based Technologies to Assess and Treat Motor Impairment in Individuals with Neurologic Injury
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20064