Neuro-Intermuscular Coordination Enhancement (NICE) Rehabilitation
University of Houston
Summary
The objective of this study is to develop Neuro-Intermuscular Coordination Enhancement (NICE) rehabilitation, a novel neuromuscular control signal-guided strategy that visually guides stroke patients to individually activate motor modules through human-machine interaction. Ultimately, the development will lead to better clinical motor recovery, better quality of life, and lowered healthcare costs associated with the impairment.
Description
Stroke is the leading cause of severe long-term disability, affecting 9.4 million Americans. Each year around 800,000 people suffer a stroke even in the USA. Chronic upper extremity motor impairment is a major contributing factor to disability; functional use of the affected UE in daily life is a key factor for increased independence, return to work, and overall quality of life. Thus, effective and innovative treatment to address long-term disability is both a major public health need and an economic necessity. This study is an early-stage, randomized controlled rehabilitation trial designed…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 21–80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion criteria for individuals after stroke are: * Hemiparetic chronic stroke survivors more than 6 months after stroke onset * Adults aged 21-80 years, including both female and male participants * Individuals with a single unilateral ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke * Individuals with Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment score between 10 and 59 out of 66 * Individuals who have not received botulinum toxin injections in the upper extremity within the past 3 months * Individuals without severe spasticity, defined as Modified Ashworth Scale score ≤3 at the elbow and shoulder Exclusion crit…
Interventions
- OtherNeuromuscular coordination enhancement (NICE) intervention
Neuro-Intermuscular Coordination Enhancement (NICE) is a motor module-guided rehabilitation intervention designed to improve upper-extremity motor recovery after stroke by retraining impaired intermuscular coordination patterns. Participants perform isometric upper-extremity force-generation tasks using a human-machine interface while receiving real-time visual feedback derived from motor module recruitment signals calculated from surface electromyography (EMG). Individualized motor module targets are derived from the participant's less-affected upper extremity and used to guide selective recruitment of impaired coordination patterns in the more-affected upper extremity. Participants will complete 18 one-hour training sessions over six weeks (3 sessions/week). During training, participants perform repetitive target-matching tasks that require preferential recruitment of specific motor modules while minimizing unintended activation of non-target modules.
- OtherEMG Amplitude Biofeedback Exercise
EMG Amplitude Biofeedback Exercise is an active comparator rehabilitation intervention designed to improve upper-extremity motor function after stroke through targeted muscle activation training. Participants perform isometric upper-extremity exercises using a human-machine interface with real-time EMG amplitude-based visual feedback. Individualized muscle activation targets derived from the less-affected upper extremity guide training of the more-affected upper extremity. Participants will complete 18 one-hour sessions over 6 weeks (3 sessions/week).
Location
- University of HoustonHouston, Texas