Improvement of moderate upper limb paralysis after stroke using Single-Joint Hybrid Assistive Limb^® on the shoulder joint: A case study

Abstract

We planned high-frequency shoulder joint exercises using Single-Joint Hybrid Assistive Limb^® (HAL) to improve the condition of patients with upper limb paralysis. This study aims to examine the improvement in the condition of a stroke patient with upper limb paralysis by HAL training to the left shoulder joint (shoulder HAL training). We practiced shoulder HAL training of 50 to 100 repetitions per set for a patient who developed a right pontine infarction from acute to convalescent phase. As a result, upper limb paralysis and Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the upper extremity improved. Therefore, shoulder HAL training may be able to provide the amount of practice that promotes improvement of upper limb paralysis for patients with moderate upper limb paralysis.