Bringing Psychological Strategies to Robot-Assisted Physiotherapy for Enhanced Treatment Efficacy

Bin Zhong; Wenxin Niu; Elizabeth Broadbent; Andrew McDaid; Tatia M C Lee; Mingming Zhang

doi:10.3389/fnins.2019.00984

Bringing Psychological Strategies to Robot-Assisted Physiotherapy for Enhanced Treatment Efficacy

Front Neurosci. 2019 Sep 18:13:984. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00984. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Bin Zhong¹, Wenxin Niu², Elizabeth Broadbent³, Andrew McDaid⁴, Tatia M C Lee⁵, Mingming Zhang^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
² Shanghai Yangzhi Rehabilitation Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
³ School of Medicine, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁵ The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁶ Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

Robotic technologies offer a range of functions to augment clinical rehabilitation practice. However, compliance with robot-assisted rehabilitation techniques has not been optimally achieved. Traditional approaches to improving the treatment efficacy are focusing more on the system function, while psychological factors have not been integrated comprehensively. In this perspective paper, eight key factors reflecting three conceptions-robot design, function design, and patients' expectations have been evaluated and analyzed. Clinical results with 28 therapists and 84 patients indicate that integrating psychological strategies into robot-assisted physiotherapy may promote better trust and acceptance of rehabilitation robots.

Keywords: enhanced effect; physiotherapy; psychology; robot-assisted; robotics.