Effectiveness of Robot-Assisted Lower Limb Rehabilitation on Balance in People with Stroke: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of robot-assisted lower-limb rehabilitation on balance in stroke patients and to explore the covariates associated with these effects. A systematic literature search was carried out in four databases (MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL, PsycINFO, and ERIC) for studies published from inception to 25th of March 2022. Studies on robot-assisted lower-limb rehabilitation with a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, participants with stroke, a comparison group with conventional training, and balance-related outcomes were included. Studies were assessed for Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 and quality of evidence. Meta-analysis and meta-regression were performed. A total of 48 (RCT) with 1472 participants were included. The overall risk of bias in the included studies was unclear (n = 32), high (n = 15) or low (n = 1). Compared to conventional rehabilitation, robot-assisted lower-limb rehabilitation interventions were more effective for balance improvement (Hedges’ g = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.10 0.41). In meta-regression, a relationship between the training effect was observed with the time since stroke, explaining 56% of the variance (p = 0.001), and with the ankle robots, explaining 16% of the variance (p = 0.048). No serious adverse events related to robot-assisted training were reported. Robot-assisted lower-limb rehabilitation may improve balance more than conventional training in people with stroke, especially in the acute stage. Robot-assisted lower-limb rehabilitation seems to be a safe rehabilitation method for patients with stroke. To strengthen the evidence, more high-quality RCTs with adequate sample sizes are needed.