A novel approach to increase upper extremity active range of motion for individuals with duchenne muscular dystrophy using admittance control: A preliminary study

Progressive muscle weakness characteristic of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) results in loss of upper extremity active range of motion (AROM) despite residual muscle strength that is insufficient to overcome gravity. Admittance control is well suited for use by individuals with DMD as it allows for the utilization of residual muscle strength to intuitively control the motion of a powerful robot without requiring strength to overcome gravity and the friction and inertia of the robot. This study examined the feasibility of using the HapticMASTER, an admittance control motorized arm support, to increase the upper extremity AROM of individuals with DMD to a greater degree than that provided by the Armon Edero, a commercially available passive arm support. The results demonstrate that the HapticMASTER robot significantly increased the reachable surface area scores compared to the Armon Edero passive arm support (paired-samples t-test, t(5) = 3.984, p = 0.010, Cohen’s d = 1.6).