{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"medRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,7]],"date-time":"2026-08-07T15:02:08Z","timestamp":1786114928904,"version":"build-2736575974"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]]},"group-title":"Rehabilitation Medicine and Physical Therapy","reference-count":43,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785283200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02hh7en24","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health","award":["UL1 TR002535"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UL1 TR002535"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                  Objective\nConduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of wearable vibrotactile stimulation shirts and gloves for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation at the inpatient rehabilitation unit. The primary outcome measure was the Fugl-Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) motor score. The secondary outcome measures were the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and statistics on device safety and feasibility. Exploratory outcome measures were the FMA-UE sensation, passive joint motion, and joint pain scores. Also, the MAS for the fingers, wrist, and elbow scores.\nMethods \u00a0\nA total of 24 ischemic stroke patients were recruited for this study (45 to 85 years old) during their stay at the inpatient rehabilitation unit, which averaged 15.3 \u00b1 4.5 days. Patients were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group, with 12 participants in each group. The control group received conventional therapy only, while the treatment group received both conventional therapy and vibrotactile stimulation. Participants in the treatment group wore the vibrotactile stimulation gloves and shirts for 1.5 hours per day, 5 days per week.\nUpper extremity impairment and spasticity were assessed with the FMA-UE and MAS at both admission and discharge from the rehabilitation unit. In addition, feedback from patients in the treatment group was collected through a questionnaire to evaluate comfort, usability, and satisfaction. The trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (\n                  <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"clintrialgov\" xlink:href=\"NCT06244719\">NCT06244719<\/jats:ext-link>\n                  ).\nResults\nThe vibrotactile stimulation was safe and well-tolerated by stroke patients. No statistically significant differences were noted in FMA-UE motor scores and total MAS scores between the groups; however, exploratory analyses revealed a significant improvement in FMA-UE joint pain scores in the treatment group. A trend towards reduced wrist spasticity was observed in the treatment group, but this effect did not remain significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Responder analyses showed a greater proportion of responders in the treatment group for both FMA-UE and MAS outcomes.\nConclusions\nOur results show promise for a larger sample size study and follow-up work with longer durations of vibrotactile stimulation with gloves and shirts for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation. Although no significant improvements were observed in FMA-UE motor function or total MAS scores, vibrotactile stimulation was associated with reduced joint pain, potential benefits for distal spastic hypertonia, and increased responder rates.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.07.26.26358522","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T02:10:15Z","timestamp":1785377415000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Wearable vibrotactile stimulation shirts and gloves for upper extremity stroke rehabilitation: A pilot randomized controlled trial"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-8271-0369","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Walaa","family":"Ayyad","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Colorado Denver;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yeongdae","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Colorado Denver;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nathan","family":"Odom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Colorado Denver - Anschutz Medical Campus: University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mazen","family":"Al Borno","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Colorado Denver;"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140-6736(13)61953-4"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1161\/STROKEAHA.121.034348"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1016\/S1474-4422(14)70160-7","article-title":"Constraint-induced movement therapy after stroke","volume":"14","year":"2015","journal-title":"The Lancet Neurology"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"244","DOI":"10.1038\/nrneurol.2017.34","article-title":"Restoring brain function after stroke\u2014bridging the gap between animals and humans","volume":"13","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nature Reviews Neurology"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09638280802061878"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apmr.2009.04.005"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinph.2012.05.017"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinph.2010.06.032"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2340\/16501977-0946"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2019.00115","article-title":"Short-term effects of focal muscle vibration on motor recovery after acute stroke: a pilot randomized sham-controlled study","volume":"10","year":"2019","journal-title":"Frontiers in Neurology"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1177\/1545968310376757","article-title":"Long-term effects on cortical excitability and motor recovery induced by repeated muscle vibration in chronic stroke patients","volume":"25","year":"2011","journal-title":"Neurorehabilitation and neural repair"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1277","DOI":"10.1109\/TNSRE.2022.3174808","article-title":"Design of a wearable vibrotactile stimulation device for individuals with upper-limb hemiparesis and spasticity","volume":"30","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1186\/s12984-019-0563-3","article-title":"Intensive virtual reality and robotic based upper limb training compared to usual care, and associated cortical reorganization, in the acute and early sub-acute periods post-stroke: a feasibility study","volume":"16","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation"},{"key":"2026080104000641000_2026.07.26.26358522v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jankovic, J. , Hallett, M. , Okun, M. 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