2026 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Objective:

To develop and validate a sensor-based behaviorally informed technology for promoting post-stroke motor recovery.

Background:

Stroke survivors often experience a debilitating loss of motor control typically affecting one side of the body. When performing upper extremity (UE) movements during activities of daily living, stroke survivors naturally favor using the more functional UE, thus leading to restricted use of the hemiparetic UE thereby hindering motor recovery. StrokeWear™ is a rehabilitation platform designed to promote functional recovery of the hemiparetic UE in stroke survivors by encouraging increased and balanced arm use.

Design/Methods:

StrokeWear includes bilateral wrist-worn sensors and a companion smartphone application that provides real-time feedback, personalized goal setting, daily activity and action plans, hand function tracking, progress monitoring, and motivational messaging. Our ongoing randomized clinical trials with StrokeWear™ for chronic and subacute stroke survivors (Clinicaltrial.gov # NCT05626894 and NCT06797154) aims to enroll 32 chronic and 88 subacute stroke survivors in the six-month intervention using StrokeWear.

Results:

In our clinical trials, we aim to evaluate whether the StrokeWear™ system can enhance hemiparetic UE engagement and promote recovery. So far, we have enrolled 7 chronic stroke survivor participants and 2 subacute stroke survivor participants. Preliminary results indicate a trend toward greater daily wear time and more consistent hand use among intervention participants.

Conclusions:

StrokeWear is a rehabilitation digital health technology for facilitating motor recovery post stroke. By combining continuous monitoring and feedback, along with behavior change techniques, the StrokeWear system could enhance the recovery of UE motor function in stroke patients.