A Novel Wrist Wearable Sensor System to Promote Hemiparetic Upper Extremity Use in Subacute Stroke Survivors

Other illness

• Visual impairments as assessed by the NIH Stroke Scale Visual Field subscale (only subjects with no visual loss will participate in the study); or hemispatial neglect that would impair the subject ability to see the feedback on the app screen (as assessed with the Mesulum cancellation test);
• Individuals with open wounds or recent fracture (less than 3 months) in the upper extremity, fragile skin or active infection;
• Diagnosis of other neurological disease; (i.e., Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, ...);
• Brainstem and cerebellar stroke.

Other

• Severe spasticity (defined as a Modified Ashworth scale score of 3 or more) that would prevent safe performance of UE tasks;
• Upper-extremity orthopedic injuries or severe pain resulting in movement limitations;
• Severe proprioceptive deficits that impair the ability to process the vibration feedback, as assessed by physical examination during screening;
• Not understanding spoken or written English;
• Contralateral motor deficits as assessed by clinical examination;

• Male or female, 18-85 years of age at the time of enrollment
• Anterior circulation ischemic stroke at least 1 month and no more than 6 months prior to study enrollment;
• Unilateral upper extremity hemiparesis as characterized by initial scores on upper limb subtest of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA-UE) between 20 and 45;
• Intact cognitive function to understand the study procedures and goal setting (MMSE score above 23 and able to follow 3step command) ;
• Owning a smartphone (iOS or Android) and being familiar and comfortable with and owning a tablet or smartphone
• SAFE score equal or greater than 5