Can the predefined on-body sensing system be used for the qualification of the arm and balance function of patients after stroke.

With the aging of the population, the incidence of stroke is increasing in especially developing countries. Depending on the patient’s impairments as a result of the stroke, a patient-specific rehabilitation program is started when he/she is discharged from the hospital after the acute phase. During the subsequent period of intensive training in a rehabilitation centre, the patient’s motor function is regularly evaluated. When the patient has an adequate capacity to live at home, the patient is discharged and sent home. Between this moment and the next routine appointment (several months later), patients frequently show deterioration of motor function. In some cases, this deterioration is so severe that re-admission to a rehabilitation centre is necessary. Remarkably, the cause of the deterioration of motor function is unknown in many cases, since the patient’s period at home is like a black-box for the physician. If the physician would be able to monitor the patient’s motor function at home, he could intervene in case of deterioration and prevent an expensive re-hospitalisation. For this purpose, we develop body-mounted sensing systems that can eventually result in daily-life monitoring. In the current phase, we evaluate monitoring principles in a simulated ambulatory setting. In this cross sectional study described in this document, a combination of two ambulatory human movement analysis systems (Instrumented Force Shoes and an inertial sensing suit) will be used to assess balance and reaching tasks of stroke patients. The results will be evaluated and related to regular clinical tests.



Recruitment only in the Netherlands.

The predefined on-body sensing system can be used for the qualification of the arm and balance function of patients after stroke.

One moment.

For all subjects the experiment will be the same. No randomization will be aplied, no control group will be included.



During the single measurement session, the sensors will be attached to the body. After calibration, subjects will be asked to perform some specific tasks and complete some clinical tests. The whole measurement session will take about 120 minutes.