Project description
How VR helps upper limb recovery in stroke patients
Every 20 seconds someone in Europe has a stroke, which is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability-adjusted life years worldwide. Improving upper limb motor recovery is a major therapeutic target in stroke rehabilitation. The EU-funded ImpHandRehab project will build on previous findings that reward-based interventions can optimise motor learning in stroke patients suffering upper limb impairments. It will show the potential of virtual reality (VR) technology as an effective rehabilitation tool. Specifically, it will use a VR-compatible motion capturing glove to accurately collect individual finger position data without the need for a camera. The aim of the project is to create an affordable, flexible, accurate, interactive and scientifically-validated hand-based rehabilitation product that patients will be able to use at home.
Objective
The ERC proThe ERC project (MotMotLearn), underlying ImpHandRehab, aims to develop reward-based interventions that optimise motor learning in stroke patients suffering upperlimb impairments. MotMotLearn has shown that if reward-based feedback is combined with a distracting environment learning is robust to interference and resistant to forgetting; important components for a successful rehabilitation intervention. However, this work has highlighted several technical limitations which restrict our ability to apply this knowledge to stroke patients. First, an engaging virtual reality (VR) environment is required that enables reward-based feedback to be combined with distracting environments. Second, many stroke patients exhibiting upperlimb impairment are unable to open their hand (finger extension). Not only does this limit participation in rehabilitation programs but also restricts functional use of the arm. Crucially, existing hand-based VR-related equipment has at least one of the following issues; limited ability to measure individual finger movements, requires the hand to be in close proximity to a camera or is prohibitively expensive. Therefore, a clear gap exists for a sensitive, flexible and affordable VR-based product that focuses on hand function recovery. To address this, ImpHandRehab will use a state-of-the-art VR-compatible motion capturing glove which accurately collects individual finger position data without the need for a camera. Several VR tasks will be developed that focus on improving finger extension (whole hand and individual fingers) through the combination of closed-loop reward-based learning designs and distracting environments. These tasks will be optimised in healthy older adults and validated in stroke patients via the UK’s largest upperlimb rehabilitation clinic. ImpHandRehab will create an affordable, flexible, accurate, interactive and scientifically-validated hand-based rehabilitation product which patients will be able to use at home.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors optical sensors
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine physiotherapy
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology stroke
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software software applications virtual reality
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-POC-LS - ERC Proof of Concept Lump Sum Pilot
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2019-PoC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
B15 2TT Birmingham
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.