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CompletedNCT05416619MOREUpdated Jun 13, 2022

Effects of Hand MOtor Rehabilitation Using a sEMG-biofeedback

An interventional study of REMO® in Stroke, Stroke, Ischemic and Stroke Hemorrhagic, sponsored by IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy. Completed at 1 site in Italy. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-06-13.

Sponsored by IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 years 9 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Aug 2017, registered May 2022).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Stroke is the first cause of disability worldwide. The motor impairment of the hand is one of the most common sequelae in patients after stroke. Indeed, approximately 60% of patients with diagnosis of stroke suffers from hand sensorimotor impairment. In the last years, new approaches in neurorehabilitation field has been permitted to enhance hand motor recovery. Wearable devices permit to apply sensors to the patient's body for monitoring the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of patient's motion. Moreover, wearable sensors combined with electrodes detecting muscle activation (i.e. surface electromyography - sEMG) permit to provide biofeedback to the patient to improve motor recovery.

Read the detailed description

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of using REMO® (Morecognition srl, Turin, Italy) device in hand motor rehabilitation.

The device REMO® is an armband composed by 8 bipolar electrodes able to record and process the electromyography of forearm muscles. The patterns of muscle activations are classified and used to perform sEMG-biofeedback exercises in stroke rehabilitation training. The device is developed by clinicians of IRCCS San Camillo Hospital and Morecognition Srl.

A total of 20 patients with first diagnosis of stroke and with no other neurological diagnosis or severe cognitive impairment has been enrolled. The patients are tested with REMO® and if they are able to control at least one movements, they are enrolled in the longitudinal pilot study. The treatment consists in 15 sessions, 1hour/day, for 5 days/week, for 3 weeks. The patients are clinically evaluated before and after the REMO® treatment to define clinical effect of the sEMG-biofeedback training.

02

Conditions studied

  • Stroke
  • Stroke, Ischemic
  • Stroke Hemorrhagic
  • Hemiparesis

Keywords

  • Neurological Rehabilitation
  • Hand Recovery
  • Electromyography
03

In context

Stroke

7,286 studies on the registry are indexed under Stroke; 2,007 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 20 is below the median of 50 across 5,369 interventional studies indexed under Stroke.

Browse Stroke studies →

Lead sponsor

IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy is the lead sponsor of 48 studies on the registry; 18 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

Inclusion criteria

  • Single ischemic or haemorrhagic stroke
  • able to control at least 1 movement with REMO (i.e. able to cross the pre-defined empirical threshold (10%) of the ratio between the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the movement and the EMG recording during baseline (i.e. rest position)

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Untreated epilepsy;
  • Major depressive disorder;
  • Fractures;
  • Traumatic Brain Injury;
  • Severe Ideomotor Apraxia;
  • Severe Neglect;
  • Severe impairment of verbal comprehension.
05

Study design

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

Study arms

  • Experimental
    sEMG-biofeedback Group

    Receive 1 hour of sEMG-biofeedback hand training provided by wearable REMO® and 1 hour of daily conventional rehabilitation therapy.

    Device: REMO®

Interventions

  • DeviceREMO®

    The patients receive daily 1 hour of conventional therapy and 1 hour of treatment of REMO®, that is a wearable composed by 8 bipolar electrodes able to detect the surface electromyography of the forearm muscles. REMO® allows the control of a computer interface using the surface electromyography to execute sEMG-biofeedback exercises for hand rehabilitation. The movements required for hand rehabilitation are the following: thumb abduction, pinch, finger flexion, finger extension, wrist flexion, wrist extension, forearm pronation, forearm supination, radial wrist deviation and ulnar wrist deviation. The treatment consists in 15 sessions, 1hour/day, for 5 days/week, for 3 weeks. The patients are clinically evaluated before and after the REMO® treatment.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity

    Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity is a stroke-specific scale which assesses the upper limb motor functioning in patients with post-stroke hemiplegia. There are 3 values: 0 (severe impairment), 1 (moderate impairment), 2 (preserved function). The minimum value is 0 points, which corresponds to upper limb hemiplegia. The maximum value is 66 points, which corresponds to normal motor performance.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Fugl-Meyer - sensation

    Sensation of the hemiparetic side is measured by means of the Fugl-Meyer Scale. There are 3 values: 0 (severe impairment), 1 (moderate impairment), 2 (preserved function). The minimum value is 0 points, which corresponds to completely impaired sensory functioning. The maximum value is 24 points, which corresponds to normal sensory functioning.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  2. Fugl-Meyer - pain and Range of Motion

    Pain and Range of Motion of the hemiparetic upper limb is measured by means of the Fugl-Meyer Scale. There are 3 values: 0 (severe impairment), 1 (moderate impairment), 2 (preserved function). The minimum value is 0 points, which corresponds to maximum level of pain and restriction. The maximum value is 48 points, which corresponds to no pain and normal range of motion.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  3. Box and Blocks Test

    The patient has to carry as much cubes as possible, one by one, from a container to another one in one minute. The test is performed with both hands.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  4. Reaching Performance Scale

    Reaching Performance Scale assesses the ability of subjects to reach an object (a cone). The cone is placed at both 4-cm (close) and 30-cm (far) distance from the subject. The subject is asked to reach and grab the cone if possible. The observer evaluates the quality of reaching instead of the grip strength. The minimum value is 0 points, which corresponds to incapacity of any ability of reaching an object. The maximum value is 36 points, which corresponds to the preservation of the ability of reaching an object.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  5. Modified Ashworth Scale

    Spasticity is measured using the Modified Ashworth Scale of five muscles: Pectoralis major, biceps, wrist flexors, flexor digitorum superficialis, flexor digitorum profundus (Total score = 20 points). The therapist evaluates the spasticity of each muscles. There are 5 values: 0 (no increase in muscle tone), 1 (slight increase in muscle tone), 2 (more marked increase in muscle tone), 3 (considerable increase in muscle tone), 4 (affected part rigid in flexion or extension).

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  6. Nine Hole Pegboard Test

    Nine Hole Pegboard Test measures the dexterity of the hand. Patient should insert 9 pins in the board. There are 9 pins. The number of pins inserted in 50 sec are registered or if the patient inserted 9 pins, then the time is registered.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  7. Functional Independence Measure

    Functional Independence Measure scale is an 18-item scale that assesses the degree of independence in carrying out activities of daily living. There are 7 values: 1 (Total Assistance or not Testable), 2 (Maximal Assistance), 3 (Moderate Assistance), 4 (Minimal Assistance), 5 (Supervision), 6 (Modified Independence), 7 (Complete Independence). The minimum values is 18 points, which corresponds to the lower level of independence in activities of daily living. The maximum value is 126 points, which corresponds to the maximum level of independence in activities of daily living.

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

  8. Number of movements controlled by REMO® device

    The patient is able to control a movement with the device if he crosses the pre-defined empirical threshold (10%) of the ratio between the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the movement and the sEMG recording during baseline (i.e. rest position).

    Time frame: Change from baseline, at 3 weeks (15 sessions).

07

Study locations

1 site
  • IRCCS San Camillo Hospital
    Venice-Lido, Venice 30126, Italy
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Celadon N, Dosen S, Binder I, Ariano P, Farina D. Proportional estimation of finger movements from high-density surface electromyography. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2016 Aug 4;13(1):73. doi: 10.1186/s12984-016-0172-3. PubMed 27488270 ↗
  • Paleari M, Di Girolamo M, Celadon N, Favetto A, Ariano P. On optimal electrode configuration to estimate hand movements from forearm surface electromyography. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2015;2015:6086-9. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2015.7319780. PubMed 26737680 ↗
  • Di Girolamo M, Celadon N, Appendino S, Turolla A. and Ariano P. EMG-based biofeedback system for motor rehabilitation: A pilot study,. IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS). 2017; pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/BIOCAS.2017.8325086.
  • Parker J, Powell L, Mawson S. Effectiveness of Upper Limb Wearable Technology for Improving Activity and Participation in Adult Stroke Survivors: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2020 Jan 8;22(1):e15981. doi: 10.2196/15981. PubMed 31913131 ↗
  • Maceira-Elvira P, Popa T, Schmid AC, Hummel FC. Wearable technology in stroke rehabilitation: towards improved diagnosis and treatment of upper-limb motor impairment. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2019 Nov 19;16(1):142. doi: 10.1186/s12984-019-0612-y. PubMed 31744553 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 13, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05416619
Lead sponsor
IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy
Responsible party
Andrea Turolla (Principal Investigator, IRCCS San Camillo, Venezia, Italy) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 13, 2022
Start date
Aug 14, 2017
Primary completion
Feb 11, 2019
Completion
Feb 27, 2019
Last update
Jun 13, 2022

Study contacts

Andrea Turolla, PhD
principal investigator · IRCCS San Camillo Hospital

Oversight

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

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