222 - Application of EMG-Driven Robots in Fatigue Syndrome Rehabilitation: Enhancing Recovery through Advanced Technology

Objectives: In response to the escalating workload burden on healthcare professionals and the persistent escalation of rehabilitation expenses, there is a quest for novel patient therapy modalities. This pursuit entails the exploration of cutting-edge medical devices that can facilitate partial alleviation for multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams. Therefore the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of traditional neurological rehabilitation, and neurological rehabilitation combined with a rehabilitation robot in patients with post – Covid – 19 fatigue syndrome

Design: The prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on patients with post – Covid – 19 fatigue syndrome. Patients were included if they were transferred directly from intensive care units after hospitalization due to severe course of Covid – 19. Participants were randomly allocated to control group (n =39) or intervention group (n = 42).

Results: Intragroup comparison of pre- and -postrehabilitation results showed that both groups improved in most of measured parameters. Among elbow torqe parameters mean flexion strength in control group did not improved statistically significant (p = 0,141) however other elbow torqe parameters improved significant in both groups (p< 0,001 for peak flexion strength, mean extension strength, peak extension strength and p = 0,002 in study group, p< 0,001 for peak extension strength, p=0,015 for mean extension strength and p = 0,020 for peak flexion strength in control group). Between groups comparison of change of measured parameters revealed that in intervention group improvement was significantly better in Functional Independence Measure and mean extension strength than in control group. Other parameters changed similarly in both groups.

Conclusions: Based on the outcomes of the present study, the integration of EMG-driven robots in the rehabilitation of individuals with post-Covid-19 fatigue syndrome demonstrates promising efficacy.