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CompletedNCT05007002Updated Jul 20, 2022

Robot-based Therapy for Upper Limb Sensorimotor Impairments After Stroke

An interventional study of Robot-based therapy in Stroke, sponsored by KU Leuven. Completed at 1 site in Belgium. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-07-20.

Sponsored by KU Leuven · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

After a stroke, more than two out of three patients experience problems with upper limb movement and sensation. Current evidence on treatment of upper limb sensory impairments is scarce and shows unclear results. Robot-based therapy has been increasingly used to treat upper limb motor impairments, with similar positive results as compared to conventional therapy. This study aims to investigate a novel robot-based therapy program for treatment of upper limb sensory impairments. The therapy program consists of 10 one-hour session spread over 4 weeks and will be evaluated for its effect in 20 chronic stroke patients. The investigators hypothesize that a 4-week robot-based therapy program can improve upper limb sensation and movement.

Read the detailed description

Up to 70% of stroke survivors show upper limb impairments consisting of motor and/or somatosensory impairments. These impairments often persist well into the chronic stage, and may lead to significant limitations in activities of daily living and may negatively affect quality of life. Different interventions have been investigated to treat upper limb motor impairments, including robot-based therapy, which shows similar positive results as compared to conventional therapy. Evidence on interventions for somatosensory impairments is scarce and often of low quality. This study therefore aims to evaluate the effect of a robot-based therapy program on sensorimotor function of the upper limb in a group of 20 chronic stroke patients.

The robot-based therapy will be provided using the Kinarm End-Point Lab (BKIN Technologies Ltd., Canada) and consists of passive and active therapy tasks for proprioception and sensory processing. The therapy consists of 10 one-hour sessions spread over 4 weeks. Clinical and robot-based motor and somatosensory assessments will be performed at 4 time points: twice at baseline, once at mid intervention, and once after 10 hours of therapy. The investigators hypothesize to find improvement in both upper limb motor and somatosensory function after the therapy program. The results from this pilot study will provide a basis for further research.

02

Conditions studied

  • Stroke

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Keywords

  • Stroke
  • Upper limb
  • Somatosensation
  • Sensory processing
  • Proprioception
  • Robot-based therapy
  • Robot-based assessment
03

In context

Stroke

7,441 studies on the registry are indexed under Stroke; 2,012 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 10 is below the median of 50 across 5,482 interventional studies indexed under Stroke.

Browse Stroke studies →

Lead sponsor

KU Leuven is the lead sponsor of 371 studies on the registry; 63 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • At least 18 years old
  • A first-ever unilateral, supratentorial stroke (as defined by WHO)
  • In the chronic phase after stroke (i.e. being at least 6 months after stroke)
  • Motor deficits of the upper limb (Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment - Upper Extremity \< 60/66)
  • Somatosensory deficits of the upper limb (Erasmus modified Nottingham Sensory Assessment \< 36/40)
  • Ability to perform, at least to some extent, active shoulder abduction and wrist extension against gravity
  • Ability to perform passive and active sensory processing assessment task (primary outcome measure)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of previous stroke or TIA
  • Any serious musculoskeletal and/or other neurological conditions
  • Serious communication or cognitive deficits
  • No written informed consent
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
10 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Robot-based therapy

    Chronic stroke patients receiving robot-based therapy

    Device: Robot-based therapy

Interventions

  • DeviceRobot-based therapy

    Active and passive therapy tasks for proprioception and sensory processing, with use of the Kinarm End-Point Lab (BKIN Technologies Ltd., Canada)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Kinarm: sensory processing task

    Newly-developed task on the Kinarm End-Point Lab used to assess passive and active sensory processing

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

Secondary outcomes

  1. Kinarm: arm position matching task

    Assessment of limb position sense using a 9-target mirror-matching task on the Kinarm Exoskeleton Lab

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  2. Kinarm: arm movement matching task

    Assessment of limb movement sense using a mirror-matching task on the Kinarm Exoskeleton Lab

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  3. Kinarm: visually guided reaching task

    Assessment of motor function using a 4-target centre-out reaching task on the Kinarm End-Point Lab

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  4. Kinarm: working memory task

    Assessment of working memory on the Kinarm End-Point Lab, by asking the participant to remember the position of 3, 4, 5 or 6 targets simultaneously.

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  5. Erasmus modified Nottingham sensory assessment

    Clinical assessment of somatosensory function (including exteroception, proprioception and sensory processing) on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 40, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  6. Tactile discrimination test

    Clinical assessment of sensory processing with an area under the curve based scoring system, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  7. Functional tactile object recognition test

    Clinical assessment of sensory processing on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 42, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  8. Fugl-Meyer upper extremity assessment

    Clinical assessment of motor function on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 66, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  9. Action research arm test

    Timed clinical assessment of motor activity performance on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 57, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  10. Sensorimotor action research arm test

    Timed clinical assessment of sensorimotor performance on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 57, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  11. Montreal cognitive assessment

    Clinical assessment of cognitive function on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 30, with higher scores meaning better performance

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  12. Star cancellation test

    Clinical assessment of visuospatial neglect on an ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 54, with higher scores meaning better performance, and a score below 44 indicating the presence of visuospatial neglect

    Time frame: Change during 4 weeks of therapy provided at least 6 months after stroke

  13. Kinarm: sensory processing task

    Newly-developed task on the Kinarm End-Point Lab used to assess passive and active sensory processing

    Time frame: Change in 2 baseline measures taken 2 days apart, at least 6 months after stroke

  14. Kinarm: sensory processing task

    Newly-developed task on the Kinarm End-Point Lab used to assess passive and active sensory processing

    Time frame: Change during the first 2 weeks of a 4-week therapy protocol provided at least 6 months after stroke

  15. Kinarm: sensory processing task

    Newly-developed task on the Kinarm End-Point Lab used to assess passive and active sensory processing

    Time frame: Change during the last 2 weeks of a 4-week therapy protocol provided at least 6 months after stroke

07

Study locations

1 site
  • KU Leuven
    Leuven, 3001, Belgium
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Saenen L, De Bruyn N, Verheyden G. Validity of a sensorimotor adaptation of the Action Research Arm Test (sARAT) in chronic stroke. Disabil Rehabil. 2024 Sep;46(19):4532-4539. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2271837. Epub 2023 Oct 23. PubMed 37872776 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Jul 2021 to primary completion in Jun 2022, 10 months.

Of 2,859 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Stroke, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 45. This study's 10 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 2,988 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 45.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 11, 2021
First posted
Aug 16, 2021
StartActual
Jul 14, 2021
Primary completionActual
Jun 13, 2022
CompletionActual
Jun 13, 2022
Last update
Jul 20, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jul 20, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05007002
Lead sponsor
KU Leuven
Responsible party
Prof Geert Verheyden (Professor Neurorehabilitation, KU Leuven) — Principal investigator
First posted
Aug 16, 2021
Start date
Jul 14, 2021
Primary completion
Jun 13, 2022
Completion
Jun 13, 2022
Last update
Jul 20, 2022

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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