Simultaneous Control of Tonic Vibration Reflex and Kinesthetic Illusion for Elbow Joint Motion Toward Novel Robotic Rehabilitation

Robotic rehabilitation is one of the most promising applications of robotic technologies. It is known that patients' active participation in rehabilitation is important for their recovery. On the other hand, mechanical vibration stimulation to muscles induces tonic vibration reflex (TVR) and kinesthetic illusion (KI) in the joint motion. In this paper, the possibility of a novel robotic rehabilitation method, in which the TVR is applied to an agonist muscle to enhance the intended motion of patients and the KI is simultaneously applied to an antagonist muscle to enhance the kinesthetic movement sensation of the generating intended motion by changing the frequency of vibration stimulation, is investigated. As the first step toward novel robotic rehabilitation, the proposed method is evaluated in elbow joint motion. The experimental results show the possibility of the proposed novel rehabilitation method.Clinical Relevance - This study shows the possibility of novel robotic rehabilitation.