Robotics may help cerebral palsy victims

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 26 (UPI) -- U.S. engineers say they're using robotic devices that help stroke patients control their movements as models for devices that can aid cerebral palsy victims.

"Robotic therapy can potentially help reduce impairment and facilitate neurodevelopment of youngsters with cerebral palsy," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Hermano Igo Krebs. He, Professor Neville Hogan and colleagues pioneered the use of robotic therapy during the late 1980s.

"We started with stroke because it's the biggest elephant in the room, and then started to build it out to other areas, including cerebral palsy as well as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injury," said Krebs.

The devices are based on the same principle: that it's possible to help rebuild brain connections using robotic devices that gently guide the limb as a patient tries to make a specific movement.

The MIT team is now focusing on improving cerebral palsy patients' ability to reach for and grasp objects.

"In the long run, people that have a stroke, if they are 70 or 80 years old, might stay with us for an average of 5 or 6 years after the stroke," said Krebs. "In the case of cerebral palsy, there is a whole life."