• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2020

Background: As technology has progressed, various robot-assisted devices have been developed to reduce therapists' labor and assist in therapy. However, due to their many limitations, it is more practical to use traditional mechanical devices. The grahamizer is one such traditional mechanical device used clinically to rehabilitate the upper extremities. No study has yet established the efficacy of the grahamizer in individuals with stroke. Objects: This study investigated the immediate change in arm reaching after the use of a grahamizer. Methods: Twenty-two stroke survivors participated in this study (11 males and 11 females). The reaching of the more-affected arm was measured three times using the three-dimentional electromagnetic motion tracking system "trakSTAR". After the first measurement, the subjects performed 500 rotatory arm exercises using the grahamizer. To assess the grahamizer's effect, the subjects were remeasured in the same way. Results: There were significant increases in the reaching distance (p < 0.05) and movement smoothness (p < 0.05) of the more-affected arm after using the grahamizer. Conclusion: Our study confirms that using the grahamizer is beneficial in the rehabilitation for improving movement of the more-affected arm in stroke survivors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.637-645
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• 2013

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of using a suspension device for arm reaching activity on trunk stability and gross motor function of children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy. METHODS: The subject in this study consisted of 11, GMFCS(Gross Motor Function Classification System) III~IV children with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, all of whom agreed to participate in the study. All subjects were divided into two groups: the experimental group using a suspension device, and the control group using no suspension device. For each group, a thirty-minute intervention was done twice per week during 8 weeks. Before and after intervention, each test was measured using TIS(Trunk Impairment Scale), GMFM (Gross Motor Function Measure) and PRT(Pediatric Reaching Test) to change trunk stability, gross motor function and arm reaching activity. The data were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULT: All two groups had a meaningful increase in GMFM-Sit data measured before and after intervention. The experimental group had a significant increase from an average of 78.83 to an average of 84.83 in GMFM-Crawling. For both groups, there was a substantial increase in the change in sitting position and arm reaching. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, the arm reaching activity using suspension device had an effect on trunk stability and gross motor function and it changed arm reaching activity.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.51-59
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• 2018

Background: Despite muscle latency times and patterns were used as broad examination tools to diagnose disease and recovery, previous studies have not compared the dominant arm to the non-dominant arm in muscle latency time and muscle recruitment patterns during reaching and reach-to-grasp movements. Objects: The present study aimed to investigate dominant and non-dominant hand differences in muscle latency time and recruitment pattern during reaching and reach-to-grasp movements. In addition, by manipulating the speed of movement, we examined the effect of movement speed on neuromuscular control of both right and left hands. Methods: A total of 28 right-handed (measured by Edinburgh Handedness Inventory) healthy subjects were recruited. We recorded surface electromyography muscle latency time and muscle recruitment patterns of four upper extremity muscles (i.e., anterior deltoid, triceps brachii, flexor digitorum superficialis, and extensor digitorum) from each left and right arm. Mixed-effect linear regression was used to detect differences between hands, reaching and reach-to-grasp, and the fast and preferred speed conditions. Results: There were no significant differences in muscle latency time between dominant and non-dominant hands or reaching and reach-to-grasp tasks (p>.05). However, there was a significantly longer muscle latency time in the preferred speed condition than the fast speed condition on both reaching and reach-to-grasp tasks (p<.05). Conclusion: These findings showed similar muscle latency time and muscle activation patterns with respect to movement speeds and tasks. Our findings hope to provide normative muscle physiology data for both right and left hands, thus aiding the understanding of the abnormal movements from patients and to develop appropriate rehabilitation strategies specific to dominant and non-dominant hands.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2020

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of object size and reaching distance on kinematic factors of the upper limb while performing arm reaching for normal subjects. Methods : The subjects of this study were 30 university students who were in D university in Busan, and the measuring tool was CMS-70P(Zebris Medizintechnik Gmbh, Germany), a three-dimensional motion analyzer. The task had six conditions. The average velocity of motion, average acceleration, maximum velocity, and the velocity definite number of movements were measured according to changes in object size(2cm, 10cm) and reaching distance(15%, 37.5%, 60%) when they performed arm reaching. The general characteristics of the subject were technical statistics. One-way ANOVA measurement was used to compare variables when the arm reaching task was performed from two object sizes to three reaching distance, and the post-test was conducted with Tukey test. In addition, an independent t-test was used to analyze the kinematic differences according to the two object sizes at three reaching distances. A two-way ANOVA measurement (3×2 Two-way ANOVA measurement) was performed to identify the interaction of the reaching distance(15%, 37.5%, 60%) and the object size(2cm, 10cm). The statistical significance level α was set to .05. Results : When the size of the object increased, the velocity and maximum velocity also increased, but the definite number of velocity decreased. When the reaching distance increased, the velocity and maximum velocity increased, whereas the definite number of velocity decreased. Conclusion : The clinical significance of this study could be utilized as the baseline data for grading object size and reaching distances when the reaching training is implemented for patients whose central nervous system was damaged.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.474-474
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• 2000

This paper shows that a system with two-link arm can obtain hand reaching movement to a target object projected on a visual sensor by reinforcement learning using a layered neural network. The reinforcement signal, which is an only signal from the environment, is given to the system only when the hand reaches the target object. The neural network computes two joint torques from visual sensory signals, joint angles, and joint angular velocities considering the urn dynamics. It is known that the trajectory of the voluntary movement o( human hand reaching is almost straight, and the hand velocity changes like bell-shape. Although there are some exceptions, the properties of the trajectories obtained by the reinforcement learning are somewhat similar to the experimental result of the human hand reaching movement.

• The Korean journal of sports medicine
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.197-206
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• 2018

Purpose: This study analyzed the muscle activity changes induced by motions of reaching forward and chest expansion that were examined from the bilateral muscles with rectus abdominis, external oblique, multifidus, and longissimus thoracic using Pilates cadillac instrument. Methods: Nine young adult women, who have no musculoskeletal disorder and any of chronic diseases, were participated. Surface electromyography system was used for recording of all signals produced by muscles, and then normalized as percentage of maximum voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC). The paired t-test and repeated measures of analysis of variance was performed. Results: Reaching-forward motion showed a higher muscle activity from non-dominant external oblique muscle than that of the chest-expansion motion. During both reaching-forward motion and chest-expansion motion, MVIC values collected from dominant side of external oblique muscle were shown a significantly lower than the values obtained from non-dominant side (p<0.05). Conversely, %MVIC values in external oblique muscle collected from dominant side showed a significantly higher than the values obtained from non-dominant side of the same oblique muscle (p<0.05). Reaching-forward motion was caused a higher %MVIC on non-dominant external oblique muscle than that of the chest-expansion motion (p<0.05). Regardless of dominant or non-dominant sides, external oblique muscle was shown the highest activation rate of all the other muscles during reaching forward action, and longissimus thoracic muscle was shown the highest activation rate of all the other muscles during chest expansion action. Conclusion: Reaching-forward motion is suitable for activating an external oblique muscle, and chest-expansion motion is an effective enough in activating of longissimus thoracic muscle.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.145-153
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Electromyography (EMG) of the upper limb during reaching tasks according to two heights in the sitting position. Design: Cross sectional design Methods: Fifteen hemiplegia, fifteen elderly, and fifteen healthy subjects have participated in this study. The targets (90% length of the subject's arm) were located at the two heights (the eye and xiphoid process). We have recorded EMG signals of seven upper limb muscles (anterior deltoid (AD), posterior deltoid (PD), pectoralis major (Pec), infraspinatus (Inf), supraspinatus (Sup), biceps brachii (Bi), triceps brachii (Tri)). The dependent variables were movement time(s), modulation ratio, working ratio, and the co-contraction ratio of the hemiplegia, elderly, and healthy at the reaching task. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA (2-heights) was analyzed with the LSD post hoc test. Results: The study results were as follows: (1) The movement time to the target during reaching movement was significantly longer for the hemiplegia and elderly groups compared to the healthy group. (2) The modulation rate was significantly higher at eye height than the xiphoid height in AD, PD, Pec, Inf, Bi muscles, and the hemiplegia group and elderly group were significantly lower than the healthy group. Additionally, the modulation ratio showed a significant interaction between heights and groups. Conclusions: It is expected that the variables using the muscle contraction characteristics, the evaluation method of this study, can be used as an electromyography-based feedback method that can be objectively evaluated and quantified in clinical practice.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.202-222
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• 2003

Chronic upper extremity hemiparesis is a leading cause of functional disability after stroke. The purpose of this study were to identify effects of a 6weeks repetitive bilateral arm training on upper motor function and the reorganization of motor network. Four chronic stroke patients participated in this study. They performed for 6 consecutive weeks, 3 days a week, 30 minutes a day. In the single group study, four 5-minute periods per session of bilateral arm training were performed with the use of a custom-designed arm training machine. The results of this study was as follows. 1. Following the 6weeks period of RBAT, patient exhibited a improvement in FMA and BBT. 2. Following the 6weeks period of RBAT, it showed improvement in reaching time, symbol digit substitution and finger tapping speed of KCNT. 3. fMRI activation after RBAT showed a focal map in lesional cortical area and perilesional motor areas. These fMRI data suggest that hemodynamics response to RBAT reflect sensorimotor reorganization in contralateral hemisphere. In conclusion, these date suggest that improved upper extremity function induced by repetitive bilateral arm training after stroke is associated with reorganization of motor network as a neural basis for the improvement of paratic upper extremity function.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.376-384
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• 2023

In this paper, we introduce an upper extremity rehabilitation robot, NREH (NRC End-effector based Rehabilitation arm at Home). Through NREH, stroke survivors could continuously exercise their upper extremities at home. NREH allows a user to hold the handle of the end-effector of the robot arm. NREH is a end-effector-based robot that moves the arm on a two-dimensional plane, but the tilt angle can be adjusted to mimic a movement similar to that in a three-dimensional space. Depending on the tilting angle, it is possible to perform customized exercises that can adjust the difficulty for each user. The user can sit down facing the robot and perform exercises such as arm reaching. When the user sits 90 degrees sideways, the user can also exercise their arms on a plane parallel to the sagittal plane. NREH was designed to be as simple as possible considering its use at home. By applying error augmentation, the exercise effect can be increased, and assistance force or resistance force can be applied as needed. Using an encoder on two actuators and a force/torque sensor on the end-effector, NREH can continuously collect and analyze the user's movement data.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.546-551
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• 1993

A new robust sliding mode controller is formulated for the tip position control of a single-link flexible manipulator with parameter variations. After establishing the plant model characterized by a noncollocated uncertain control system, a sliding surface which guarantees stable sliding mode motion is synthesized in an optimal manner. The surface is then modified to adapt arbitrarily given initial conditions. A discontinuous control law associated with the modified surface is designed by restricting that velocity state variables are not available from direct sensor measurements. Using the proposed control law favorable system responses are accomplished through shortening the reaching phase of state trajectory without increasing maximum control torque as well as undesirable chattering. Furthermore, a low sensitiveness to uncertainties is obtained from inherent salient properties of the proposed control system. Computer simulations are undertaken in order to demonstrate these superior control performance characteristics to be accrued from the proposed methodology.