A recent traffic incident occurred at a university-level teaching hospital in a hilly state of northern India, where a study was being conducted comparing the effects of Robotic-assisted rehabilitation and Conventional rehabilitation on participants suffering from Dorsolumbar complete spinal cord injury (SCI).
In a controlled experiment, 30 individuals with Dorsolumbar SCI and ASIA A neurology classification participated. Fifteen of them received Robotic-assisted rehabilitation, while the other fifteen underwent Conventional rehabilitation post-surgery. The researchers meticulously recorded various parameters before and after the rehabilitation. This included neurological, motor, and sensory function scores, walking and independence measures, quality of life assessments, pain scales, and spasticity scales for lower limbs.
The comparison of the two groups revealed that the Robotic-assisted rehabilitation was substantially more effective in multiple areas. This included Motor scores, Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury scores, Spinal Cord Independence Measure III scores, AO Spine Patient Reported Outcome Trauma scores, McGill Quality of Life scores, as well as maximum velocity and step length. However, some measures like the Lower Extremity Motor Score, ASIA neurology, pain scales, sensory scores, and spasticity scales did not show significant statistical differences between the two groups.
The study concluded that Robotic-assisted rehabilitation outperforms the conventional methods for patients with SCI possessing ASIA A neurology.
Source: Nature.com