Bimanual wearable robotic orthoses to promote cortical function and recovery from stroke

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Stroke, a form of cardiovascular disease, is the result of a blood flow problem in the brain. It is the leading cause ofneurologically related disability in Canada - over 300,000 Canadians live with the effects of stroke. Individuals with strokespend over five million days in Canadian hospitals or residential care facilities every year, costing over $3.5 billion a year inboth direct costs, such as physician and hospital costs, and indirect costs, such as lost wages and decreased productivity.This project proposes an innovative technology and rehabilitation therapy to drastically accelerate recovery from stroke.The proposed regimen will improve the health of stroke patients, improve health service efficiency, lead to new Canadianinnovation in the biotechnology sector, and ultimately reduce the cost of stroke to society. The specific focus of this project ison recovery from arm impairments caused by stroke since this affects approximately 55-75% of people with stroke. Our pastwork has shown that the quality of life declines with time for Canadians who have a weak arm caused by a stroke.In this work we will design an innovative robotic system to enable a novel rehabilitation therapy that uses both the weakand non-stroke affected arms. The robotic system will be wearable, portable and lightweight such that it can be used both inhospitals and homes. Outcomes of this project will be translated to the knowledge/technology users participating in thisresearch and to participating hospitals to ensure that individuals with stroke gain timely access to this ground-breakingtechnology and treatment.