ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Biomechanics

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1600706

This article is part of the Research TopicBiomechanics, Sensing and Bio-inspired Control in Rehabilitation and Assistive Robotics, Volume IIView all 14 articles

Effects of a wearable hand orthosis on upper and lower limb motor recovery in stroke patients: A randomized controlled trial

Provisionally accepted
Lijuan XuLijuan Xu1Jie ZhangJie Zhang2Qiang LiuQiang Liu3Yefan CaoYefan Cao3Nazhakaiti AizeziNazhakaiti Aizezi4Jing TianJing Tian3Cheng WuCheng Wu3Liyu FangLiyu Fang5LIYI CHENLIYI CHEN6Yanzheng ZhangYanzheng Zhang7Xueming PangXueming Pang1Yanli LinYanli Lin1Jingxin WangJingxin Wang8*Hewei WangHewei Wang3*
  • 1Hangzhou linping hospital of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, Hangzhou, China
  • 2Shaanxi Rehabilitation Hospital, Xi'an, Shanxi, China
  • 3Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
  • 4University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 5Hangzhou Fuyang Hospital of Orthopedics of Traditional Chinese Medicine, ,Hangzhou, China
  • 6University of Leeds, Leeds, England, United Kingdom
  • 7Shanghai Hebin Rehabilitation Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, China
  • 8Zhengzhou Central Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

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Objective: Orthoses have shown potential in addressing upper limb spasticity in stroke survivors; however, their influence on motor recovery remains controversial. This study aimed to examine the effects of a wearable hand orthosis on spasticity, motor recovery of both upper and lower limbs, balance, and activities of daily living in stroke.Design: Randomized controlled trial.Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation department.Participants: Fifty-one stroke survivors with hemiplegia were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 26) or a control group (n = 25).Both groups underwent a 4-week conventional rehabilitation program.Participants in the experimental group engaged in a self-directed training program utilizing a wearable hand orthosis for 5 hours daily, whereas the control group followed the identical regimen without the use of the orthosis.Outcome Measures: Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) for spasticity, Fugl-Meyer Assessment for upper and lower extremities (FMA-UE & FMA-LE), Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Barthel Index (BI).The experimental group showed greater improvements in FMA-UE (difference = 4.37, P = 0.022), BBS (difference = 12.37, P < 0.001), and BI (difference = 17.65, P < 0.001) compared to the control group. No significant differences were found in MAS (P = 0.654) or FMA-LE (P = 0.495). A stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that improvement in FMA-UE was a significant predictor of BBS recovery in the experimental group (r² = 0.207, P = 0.022).The use of a wearable hand orthosis in self-directed training significantly improved upper limb motor recovery, balance, and ADL abilities in stroke survivors.The observed correlation between upper limb recovery and balance improvement indicates the potential of this orthosis to facilitate comprehensive rehabilitation.

Keywords: Wearable hand orthosis, Stroke, Spasticity, balance, Rehabilitation

Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Zhang, Liu, Cao, Aizezi, Tian, Wu, Fang, CHEN, Zhang, Pang, Lin, Wang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Jingxin Wang, Zhengzhou Central Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China
Hewei Wang, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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