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Upper limb motor impairment is one of the most debilitating sequelae after stroke, thus the aim of rehabilitation is to promote functional recovery and improve quality of life. Surface Electromyography Biofeedback (sEMG-BFB) is a therapeutic tool based on providing amplified neuromuscular information on motor performance to the patient, for enhancing motor learning and driving to a successful recovery. A preliminary pilot longitudinal study was carried out to preliminarily investigate any clinical and instrumental effect due to an innovative treatment based on sEMG-BFB, in stroke survivors. Fifteen stroke patients with impairment of hand function were enrolled for a 3-weeks- training with REcognition MOvement (REMO®), a sEMG-BFB armband, clinical and instrumental assessments were administered before and after the training. After training, statistically significant differences were observed at the Box and Block Test (BBT) and in the relation between changes at BBT and chMAX-chMIN of wrist extension movement. Our results indicated that improvement in the device control is associated to a better hand function. Further studies need to be conducted to investigate the feasibility of using REMO® to study motor behavior in both healthy and diseased subjects.

The study aim was to test, in a clinical context, a compact surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor and a sEMG biofeedback protocol driven by a specifically designed graphic user interface (GUI). The system was tested on 5 healthy subjects and 3 post-stroke patients. The complete system evaluation was conducted considering the device setup time, the calibration procedure duration and the capability of the patients to understand and complete the proposed exercises. Furthermore, a set of two different therapy outcomes was calculated in order to quantify the capability to modulate the muscle contraction from patients and healthy subjects. The pilot results revealed both the suitability of the system in a clinical environment and the effective extraction of quantitative outcomes during the therapy, showing differences between patients and healthy subjects.