Haptic perception of multi-joint hypertonia during simulated patient-therapist physical tele-interaction

Abstract

A potential solution to provide individualized physical therapy in remote areas is tele-interaction via robotic devices. To maintain stability during tele-interaction, transmission delay-compensation algorithms bound the impedance between the patient and the therapist. This can compromise the haptic perception of the patient being assessed, which can in turn lead to a bad diagnosis or intervention. We investigated how the perception of the severity of hypertonia (a common condition after neurological disorders) varied by modifying the connection impedance on a physical simulator. We found that assessing hypetonia using a low impedance connection may result in an overestimation of mild impairments.

Therapist recognition of impaired muscle groups in simulated multi-joint hypertonia

“…We are currently using this approach to i) assess the capabilities of naïve subjects to correctly discriminate between different hypertonic impairments [33] and to ii) assess how the perception of hypertonia is affected by the impedance introduced by the virtual connection between a patient and a clinician interacting remotely [34]. …”

Enhanced assessment of limb neuro-mechanics via a haptic display

“…In addition to this experiment, we are currently using this haptic display to i) assess the capabilities of naïve subjects and expert therapists to correctly identify the nature and severity (see [20,21]) of hypertonic impairments and to ii) assess how the perception of hypertonia is affected by the impedance introduced by the virtual connection between a patient and a clinician interacting remotely [35]. The haptic display allows to tackle several practical issues.…”