Influence of stroke location on heart rate variability in robot-assistive neurorehabilitation

Abstract

Active mental engagement and a positive emotional state are prerequisites for optimal outcomes of rehabilitation programs for stroke patients. Our program at the ETH, Zurich utilizes a closed loop response in automated robot-assist gait training coupled with virtual reality provided tasks. Heart rate variability has been shown to be sensitive to cognitive as well as emotional states as well as pathophysiological-environmental challenges. We investigated whether adaptation to a task differs between stroke patients with either cortical or subcortical lesions. Seven non-stroke control participants were compared to responses of nine stroke patients with either a diagnosis of cortical or subcorti..