Vibration interface against stroke
The technology of the "mental simulator" will help in rehabilitation after a stroke
Anna Soldatenko, InScience
Scientists of the Immanuel Kant BFU together with colleagues conducted tests of a new technology of the vibrotactile brain—computer interface (BCI) with a feedback loop. With its help, so-called "mental training" is carried out, which helps people recover after a stroke. The development accelerated the process of mastering the device due to the signal sent to the hand when the brain sends her a command. BMI based on tactile stimulation will make the recovery of motor functions in post-stroke patients much faster and more effective, and their use will become more comfortable and practical. An article on the work was published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering (Grigorev et al., A BCI-Based Vibro-Tactile Neurofeedback Training Improves Motor Cortical Excitability During Motor Imaging).
Stroke is on the second place in the list of the most common causes of death — about six million people die a year worldwide. It often leaves behind severe consequences in the form of motor, speech and other disorders. Only 8% of people who have had a stroke can return to normal life, while 70-80% become disabled. Of these, about a third of patients need constant outside care.
Rehabilitation is very important to restore independence in everyday life, physical, psychological and professional activity. The most promising approaches are those based on brain—computer interface (BCI) technologies. The program reads the activity of certain areas of the brain, even in a deeply paralyzed person, and then deciphers them as an intention for a certain action. Since the body cannot move normally, either an exoskeleton or a robot works for it. Another option is to cause a contraction of the corresponding muscle groups: with repeated repetition, the nerve pathways lost after a stroke can be restored. These rehabilitation methods ensure the active participation of the patient and a high intensity of training, while reducing the burden on medical personnel.
"Although the developments of the IMC are at a fairly high level, they have a number of drawbacks. So, the command for the interface is formed in a few minutes, but the patient will learn this for a very long time. In addition, an operator is always needed to prepare and control the procedure. Also, the management of the BCI requires a person to make efforts comparable to lifting a very heavy load, but the result is not so significant. Our development does not have these drawbacks and, as we hope, will help to facilitate post—stroke rehabilitation and will overcome the limitations of existing IMCS in terms of speed and accuracy," says Susanna Gordleeva from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University.
Employees of Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad) together with colleagues from Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University (Nizhny Novgorod) and Innopolis University (Innopolis) demonstrated a new technology of vibrotactile brain—computer interface, which includes feedback through multi-channel skin stimulation. For this purpose, a special design was used, which was attached to the body, so that the subject received a vibration signal.
The experiment consisted of four stages, ten healthy volunteers took part in it. At first, general training took place; then, at the second stage, the subjects trained on the BCI with visual stimulation: they had to perform one of three commands on the screen — clench their right or left fist, focus on their breathing, that is, "rest". The third lesson was a control: the "rest" command was executed, despite other signals from the simulator to action. The final stage of the training was carried out using BCI based on tactile stimulation with the correct execution of the command from the screen. To assess the effectiveness of the procedure, the authors compared brain activity after training with and without vibrotactile BMI, and also measured data during the session.
"The results of the study showed that the use of a training device with vibration stimulation increases the activity of the brain department responsible for the musculoskeletal system. Due to this effect, the restoration of nerve pathways should be more effective. In the future, we plan to study the impact of training with the new technology on the motor and sensory functions of elderly people and patients after stroke," she added. Susanna Gordleeva.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru