Robot Therapy

At the end of my street is a hospital with a stroke recovery program which includes a robot therapist. It was featured on the local TV news using a robot to help stroke survivors with their therapy.

They showed a patient with his stroke whithered arm strapped to the machine. The robot would demonstrate a movement for the survivor and then it was the patients turn to repeat the movement. Obviously repetition is the key to any exercise program and with the robot therapy it also allows the therapist some freedom to attend other patients at the same time.

The novelty of the robot will keep stroke patients interested but there's only one of these robots as of right now and the cost would be about 50,000 dollars.

It's looking like a trip to the garage to start building your own home version right? Wrong.

Lets take a look. On the plus side the robot is great for repetitive muscle training with the bonus of freeing the therapist to look after other patients at the same time.

On the negative side we have only one machine which you have to travel to from across the city to as much as an hour or more because my city is a regional stroke center.

I'm a big fan of therapy anyway you can get it and as much as possible. You know you've done enough therapy when you're exhausted at the end of the day. They won't let you stay as a out patient all day long and work on you seven days a week so it's up to the survivor and home caregiver to do the rest.

You get out what you put in. This is why I did my exercises three times a day seven days a week. With or without a therapist. I don't know any therapists who work on the weekends.

So a robot is great and keeps the survivor engaged but you can't take it home so if you want to be a thriving survivor you still have to work on your own repeating the exercises you've learn at the hospital.

This would be a good time to ask your therapist for things you can do a home. They will know all the safe things to do based on your condition.

It all comes down to the difference between an electric can opener and a manual one.

The electric can opener is a work around and if you chose it you're saying “I can't get completely better.” It's convenient but doesn't teach the manual dexterity you might still need for everyday life. I'd use one only while training to use the manual one.

In the end you must ask yourself, “how much do I want to get back?” Your answer will tell you which can opener you will use for the rest of your life.

For more on stroke recovery go to stroke crying time again.


I was talking to someone about my stroke.

Looking at me he said, "From what I can tell it must've been a little stroke".

Smiling I replied, "If been told by the doctor I wouldn't live overnight is a little stroke, then yes it was a little stroke".

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