Armeo case study

Mrs A was 28 weeks pregnant when she had a stroke which resulted in severe paralysis and loss of sensation on the left side.

She was referred for rehabilitation in the Hand Hub at the Royal Park campus of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Because she was unable to produce any voluntary movement, and her arm was very heavy, the Armeo robot was used to provide training of arm movements.

With the robot providing 90% support to the arm, she was able to practise movements of her shoulder and elbow in response to cues provided on the computer screen.

As her ability improved, the degree of support and assistance provided by the robot was gradually reduced.

Over a 4 week period of daily training, Mrs A recovered sufficient movement to enable her to use her affected arm to dress herself, and to stabilise objects during meal preparation.

Importantly, she was able to hold her newborn baby and feed her.

Mrs A still requires further rehabilitation to improve her arm function, however the Armeo robot provided her with a degree of intensive training that would not have otherwise been possible given the severity of her paralysis.

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