A systematic review of impairment focussed technology in neurology

Abstract

Objective

We provide an overview of some biomedical technologies able to relieve everyday impairments in neurological patients.

Methods

Two literature searches from 2009 to 2020 were conducted using PubMed, Embase, Cinahl and Scopus. The studies meeting the criteria for eligibility constituted 224 of the 6257 identified studies.

Results

The first literature search resulted in the identification of 53 different neurological impairments. The following impairments were selected as the most general: six motor (walking/gait abnormality, paralysis/paresis, hypertonia, dystonia, tremor and ataxia), three cognitive (memory, attention/concentration and executive dysfunction), two sensory (visual and hearing impairments) and three uncategorized impairments (communication impairments, sleep abnormalities and seizures/epilepsies). The second literature search resulted in the identification of 22 biomedical technologies able to compensate or rehabilitate the neurological impairments.

Conclusions

This review identified some of the common neurological impairments across diseases and showed that technology can be beneficial for neurological patients by helping them with everyday living. The review also found that different aspects such as personal aspects of the intended users (e.g., impairments) and physical and environmental context of the task play an essential role in the usefulness of the technology.

Implications for rehabilitation

• Neurological diseases are globally the leading cause of disability, whereby there is a great need for rehabilitation of neurological impairments.

• Assistive technology can compensate for permanent impairments or be used in rehabilitation as an alternative to usual therapy or an adjunct to increase overall therapy time.

• This study provides an overview of existing assistive technology and how patients with neurological impairments can benefit from technology.

Keywords:

• Biomedical technology
• neurological impairments
• rehabilitation
• assistive technology
• everyday life
• ADL

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge The Danish Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, which provided the first author (RDW) with The Lundbeck Foundation scholar stipend.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 Parkinson’s disease is an independent disease group because of the high number of studies reporting on patients with Parkinson’s disease.