As the age of the population in the world increases, the occurrence of age-related disorders, such as stroke, also increases. One of the possible effects of stroke is hemiparesis. Individuals suffering from hemiparesis, a weakness or semiparalysis of one side of the body, require extensive care and rehabilitation in order to gain back the functionality of their limbs. One such method, the repetitive facilitation exercise (RFE), has been shown to be effective in improving the motor movements of patients suffering from hemiparesis [1]. This neurofacilitation method is believed to be combining a voluntary neural signal from the patient with the long latency response of an induced muscle stretch via external stimuli [2].
Even though parts of the RFE are understood, the exact temporal dynamics of cortical facilitation during the exercise need to be studied and analyzed. Thus, a magnetic resonance imagining (MRI) compatible pneumatic device was...
