November 6, 2009
ReJoyce and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)
Several studies have investigated the combined effect of various hand FES systems and ReJoyce for stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Here’s some background:
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a technique that uses small electrical pulses to activate nerves affected by paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke, head injury or other neurological disorders. FES can restore a certain amount of function in people with these injuries. Electrical stimulation of nerves is also used in many other applications including pain suppression, epilepsy, bladder control and bedsore prevention.
Hand and leg stimulators are the most common applications of FES in cases of stroke and SCI. The Bioness H200 and Bioness L300 are examples of such systems.
ReJoyce (Rehabilitation Joystick for Computer Exercise) is a hand, arm and shoulder rehabilitation workstation for improving function and range of motion. It is an affordable, passive device (no powered joints or actuators), and requires users to perform dexterous movements that are used in many common tasks of daily life. ReJoyce’s software adapts itself to a user’s abilities, adjusting its sensitivity to adapt to a wide range of abilities.
ReJoyce is used in clinics and in homes (in some countries), both under clinician supervision. The following video shows a person with SCI using the ReJoyce in combination with a hand stimulator. She is being supervised by a remote therapist using the ReJoyce Telerehabilitation system:
ReJoyce Stroke and SCI Clinical Trials
In addition to several completed trials funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Spinal Research UK, as well as three multi-centre clinical trials underway funded by the SCI-Solutions Network, Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Telerehabilitation and the Victorian Neurotrauma Initiative (Australian ReJoyce SCI Trials), ReJoyce is now part of two more studies coordinated by researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The first study compares two levels of FES and ReJoyce-based rehabilitation on the recovery of hand function in chronic stroke survivors: FES and ReJoyce. The second study, also based in Edmonton, investigates the effect of a new type of FES implant in combination with ReJoyce-based therapy on people with SCI.
For more information, please contact us.
