Hand rehabilitation device system (HRDS) for therapeutic applications

Abstract

The hand rehabilitation approach for people who are affected by cerebral apoplexy has been a long-standing issue with researchers worldwide. Currently, scientific research has discovered a way to recover the motor function. Moreover, the sensory function can be recovered by neuroplasticity. Previously, the conventional hand rehabilitation approach only focused on the motor function. Therefore, there is a need to develop an effective hand rehabilitation device to recover both the motor and sensory functions. This research embarked on the configuration setup and evaluation of new hand rehabilitation devices using a mechanical stimulation system. The system has directly led to the stimulation of tactile senses, which can later be used to help patients who lack motor and sensory functions. The work was carried out in four stages comprising the development of a programming algorithm, the design and fabrication of the device and finally, an evaluation of the product and its functions. The objective to develop and fabricate a new robust tactile grasping type stimulator for a hand rehabilitation device has been achieved successfully. The preliminary evaluation on a healthy volunteer was carried out to identify the safety factor in the implementation of hardware and software before targeted patients are used.

System Integration of Finger Contracture Prevention System Device for Early Post Stroke Rehabilitation

“…More often than not, the fingers are rigid in a flexed posture and the patients are not able control their finger movement as they could not provide the required extension force. Accordingly, it is essential for the proposed system is able to provide to repetitive extension movement of the finger at the initial stage of the rehabilitation program [12]. Once the extension function has been considerably recovered, the flexion training is carried out, this training regime involves intensive grip strength training to strengthen the motor control of weak intrinsic hand muscles.…”

“…This is performed to identify and scrutinize the distribution of the sensory points of the palm tactile sensation as there are sensory receptors that are sensitive towards pressure and touch [16]. The experiment was performed on a 10 mm by 10 mm square scale on the palm [12] (Figure 9). The test is conducted by utilizing three different types cylindrical probes that is made of brass with a diameter of 0.8 mm that is pushed on the palm for 100 times.…”

Patient-Driven Hand Exoskeleton Based Robotic with Active Control System for Early Post Stroke Rehabilitation

“…An active actuation system consists of a DC servo motor integrated with lead screw mechanism has been developed to realize the functions in aforementioned criteria. The architecture of the actuation system [7] is illustrated in Figure 1.…”

Model-Based Systems Engineering of a Hand Rehabilitation Device

“…Post stroke rehabilitation at the acute stage usually starts with one-to-one therapies conducted by physiotherapists in acute-care clinics [3]. To reduce the total cost of the treatment, patients are typically sent back to their home when their ability to walk is improved, even though they have not fully recovered the function of upper extremity, especially the distal segments, such as hands and fingers [4]. In many cases, it will take a long period of time to recover the function of flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction of the fingers [5].…”