PhD defence L.L. (Levinia) van der Velden

Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:

Stroke and cerebral palsy are two disorders of the central nervous system that lead to impairments causing limitations in daily activities. Not being able to perform activities such as washing and eating can significantly impact social or work participation. Four important motor impairments of the upper limb contribute to these limitations: (1) muscle weakness, (2) abnormal synergy, (3) spasticity, and (4) changes in viscoelastic joint properties. Diagnosing these upper limb impairments with current clinical assessments has been reported to be non-valid, unreliable, subjective, and lacks sensitivity. Robotic measurements might be a better option to provide clinicians with valuable information to optimize rehabilitation programs. Such diagnostic robot devices have been developed in the past to quantify upper limb impairments. Nevertheless, a single robotic device to quantify all four upper limb impairments is not available. Therefore, this thesis focuses on quantifying muscle weakness, abnormal synergy, spasticity, and changes in viscoelastic joint properties using a single robotic device for optimizing treatment plans of individuals with brain damage. Next to this, a systematic review was presented in which the diagnostic level of evidence is evaluated of studies on robotic devices to quantify spasticity and viscoelasticity.