Repetitive Arm Training + FES on Upper Extremity Motor Recovery in Sub-acute Stroke Survivors

"The conventional rehabilitation program will consist of physiotherapy sessions (100 min/day) following an individualized approach. The program aims at the restoration of mobility and daily living competence. Specific exercises for the affected upper limb will include, bilateral tasks and facilitation techniques.~The amount of treatment will to be comparable between control and experimental groups in order to avoid possible confounding factors."

"Arm training protocol Training sessions will last for 60 minutes. The Reo Therapy System is robot-assisted therapy; during the session the subject's affected hand is placed on or strapped onto a robotic arm and the subject is instructed to either actively reach predefined reach points, or to be guided while the robotic arm leads the arm towards these reach points.~Functional electrical stimulation protocol Experimental group will receive up to 40 minutes of FES after arm training. The device consists is a stimulator containing 5 electrodes positioned to provide reliable activation of the following muscles: extensor digitatum communis and extensor pollices brevis, flexor pollices longus, flexor digitatum superficialis, and thenar muscles."