Post-stroke patients functional task characterization through accelerometry data for rehabilitation intervention and monitoring.

Abstract

An increasing ageing society and consequently rising number of post-stroke related neurological dysfunction patients are forcing the rehabilitation field to adapt to ever-growing demands. Compensatory movements related to available motor strategies, can be observed in post-stroke patients when performing functional tasks due to a pathological synergy as in reaching for an object. Studies of post-stroke motor recovery suggest that such maladaptive strategies may limit the plasticity of the nervous system to enhance neuromotor recovery. Strategies for rehabilitation protocols monitoring and validation are presently a necessity, moreover considering data recording is often absent of the rehabilitation process or subjective in nature. This project seeks to characterize patient's upper limb performance through accelerometry, gathered with a lowcost wearable system, for compensatory movement avoidance through feedback response.