Adaptive and personalized neuromotor rehabilitation of persons with Multiple Sclerosis: from characterization to exploitation of residual sensorimotor abilities using a body-machine interface

The project AIMS AT developing and validating a novel approach to neuromotor rehabilitation of persons with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS), rooted in the physiological mechanisms of recovery and based on Body-Machine Interfaces (BoMI).

This project is INNOVATIVE in that it explicitly takes subjects’ impairments into account, first characterizing it and then inherently adapting and individualizing the rehabilitative interventions.

The project is based on the IDEA that after a neurologic disease or during a rehabilitative training all the nervous system (from the periphery to the brain) go through a reorganization and knowing these changes can be exploited to design more effective and tailored intervention.

Muscle synergies in combination with kinematic synergies will be used to develop a MS- specific tool for a complete functional evaluation, to monitor progress of the disease and effects of treatments, and they will be use to design a BoMI that will exploit the residual mobility with patient-specific exercises helping PwMS to reach their full functional potential.

Because of their adaptive nature, BoMIs will benefit PwMS with different degrees of impairment adapting to their changing conditions (worsening due to the disease progress or improving due to therapy).

The project will evaluate BoMI training-induced reorganization in the brain and spinal cord with innovative imaging techniques.

This will allow building solid foundations for a comprehensive understanding of use-dependent plasticity of the sensorimotor cortex and sensorimotor tracts in healthy subject and in PwMS.

The expected outcome will be a novel method and a class of highly adaptive, personalized devices that not only maximize the restoration of functional performance, but also promote the functional reorganization of body abilities.