Making Weak Limbs Move Again
From: Popular Science - 12/2007 - page 92

Every year some 700,000 people suffer strokes, and most of them have
difficulty moving their arms afterward. The Myomo system re-trains patients
to control their limbs. The device detects faint muscle signals that indicate
a patient’s desire to move his or her arm and uses them to trigger a motor,
stashed in an accompanying shoulder bag, that mechanically assists the arm’s
movement. By using the Myomo to perform simple tasks like opening a jar,
patients strengthen brain pathways that re-teach their arms to bend and flex
independently. In a pilot study, patients experienced a 23 percent
improvement in their motion. 

Read the article at:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/health/item_97.html

Links:
Myomo
http://www.myomo.com/

In Latest Robotics, New Hope for Stroke Patients
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/health/10robo.html?ex=1341806400&en=f36ff9a5df226d9e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink