CAREER: Neuromuscular Coordination (NeuroCoord)-Guided Human-Machine Interaction for Quantifying and Improving Motor Function after Stroke

在美国，中风是导致长期残疾的主要原因。它对上肢(UE)功能造成负面影响。由于人口老龄化和中风存活率的增加，UE仍然需要有效的中风康复。该学院早期职业发展计划(CALEAR)项目旨在为中风康复创建一个自适应神经肌肉协调(NeuroCoord)引导的人机交互平台。该平台将使研究人员能够使用在手臂上测量的大脑、肌肉和力量数据对运动障碍进行客观评估。这项研究还将允许研究人员设计一种新的、个性化的康复模式，以改善中风后UE的运动功能。该项目的成功完成将通过促进预期的运动控制而使UE的运动功能受益。此外，研究活动和成果将被整合到针对不同学生的教育和推广计划中，包括代表性不足的学生和当地社区成员。研究人员的长期目标是开发一个变革性的康复框架，即由NeuroCoord指导的适应性中风康复。该框架旨在通过与界面的物理交互激活新的肌肉间协调模式，使研究人员能够对运动损伤进行客观、多模式的评估，并设计个性化的康复模式，以改善神经损伤后的运动功能。这个职业项目将创建一个自适应的NeuroCoord引导的人机交互平台，用于自动量化运动损伤，并设计一种新颖的练习，以改善中风后的UE运动功能。该研究计划包括两个目标，以开发用于中风UE康复的NeuroCoord框架的两个重要组成部分：(1)开发和评估用于多模式(脑、肌肉和运动活动)的人机交互平台，以量化等长和几种运动条件下的中风后运动障碍；(2)通过自适应NeuroCoord引导的康复练习改变异常的肌肉间协调。该项目将为设计一种新颖的中风康复人机交互平台提供科学基础，该平台最初是由神经肌肉控制原理驱动的。这个人机交互平台是基于先进的脑成像技术、新型康复机器人设备、肌电图仪和机器学习原理的创新集成。该平台的应用有可能促进该领域的知识，以开发具有多模式信号的自动化运动评估方法，该方法结合了治疗练习后皮质组织、肌肉协调和生物机械力耦合的变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability in the U.S. It negatively impacts the upper extremity (UE) function. A significant need for effective stroke rehabilitation for the UE remains, owing to the increase in an aging population and stroke survival rates. This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project aims to create an adaptive neuromuscular coordination (NeuroCoord)-guided human-machine interaction platform for stroke rehabilitation. The platform will enable researchers to make objective assessments of motor impairment with the brain, muscular, and force data measured in the arm. The study will also allow researchers to design a new, individualized rehabilitation model to improve motor function in the UE after stroke. Successful completion of the project will benefit UE motor function by facilitating movement control as intended. Also, research activities and outcomes will be integrated into education and outreach programs for various students, including underrepresented students and local community members.The investigator’s long-term goal in research is to develop a transformative rehabilitation framework, NeuroCoord-guided adaptive stroke rehabilitation. The framework targets the activation of new intermuscular coordination patterns, through physical interaction with the interface enabling researchers to make objective, multi-modal assessments of motor impairment and design an individualized rehabilitation model for improving motor functions after neurological injuries. This CAREER project will create an adaptive NeuroCoord-guided human-machine interaction platform for automated quantification of motor impairment and design a novel exercise to improve UE motor function after stroke. The Research Plan includes two objectives to develop two important building blocks of the NeuroCoord framework for stroke UE rehabilitation: (1) development and evaluation of a human-machine interaction platform for multi-modal (brain, muscular, and kinetic activity) quantification of motor impairment post-stroke under isometric and several movement conditions and (2) altering abnormal intermuscular coordination by an adaptive NeuroCoord-guided rehabilitation exercise. The project will provide the scientific foundation for designing a novel human-machine interaction platform for stroke rehabilitation, originally motivated by neuromuscular control principles. This human-machine interaction platform is based on the innovative integration of advanced brain imaging technology, a novel rehabilitation robotic device, electromyography, and machine learning principles. The application of the platform has the potential to advance the field’s knowledge for developing automated motor assessment methods with multi-modal signals incorporating changes in cortical organization, muscle coordination, and biomechanical force coupling after the therapeutic exercise.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.