Healthcare Technology for Social Change: Development of an Innovative Rehabilitation Device

Abstract

This research aimed to develop an affordable device for the elbow and forearm rehabilitation to be used in Brazilian hospitals, clinics, physician’s offices, and residences. The Brazilian government made investments in technology development for social change, demanding innovative rehabilitation products manufactured with lower cost, compared to the current imported alternatives. Using research through design, we present the development of a module that allows continuous passive motion (CPM), which is a physical therapy resource indicated mainly for post-traumatic and post-surgical rehabilitation. This paper describes all design phases that resulted in this technological device with an important social impact on health care, making CPM treatment accessible to a broader range of patients. The module’s design fully contemplated Stakeholders’ needs, resulting in a working prototype. It was validated with users, producing the intended effects. The product is fully manufactured in Brazil and costs a fraction of the equipment currently used. The design presented in this paper opens a number of future research possibilities in the field of social innovation through health technology.

Designing for Rehabilitation Movement Recognition and Measurement in Virtual Reality

“…Previous research on technology intervention proposed either the design focusing on the device for rapid feedback movement therapy (Callegaro et al, 2016) or leveraging the off-the-shelf devices to engage the patients' motivation (Shirzad et al, 2015). In this study, we drew inspiration from the work of Afyouni et al ( 2020) and designed a system that can be implemented in off-the-shelf VR devices and provide real-time evaluation during the therapy session.…”

“…To design the hardware device for rehabilitation purposes, the researchers utilized user-centered design (UCD) to collect the requirement and perform the evaluation (Ghazali et al, 2014). Researchers can either leverage the off-the-shelf devices and modify them to meet the users' condition (Shirzad et al, 2015) or fully design custom hardware (Soomro et al, 2022) to fit the required shape and function based on the treated limb (Callegaro et al, 2016). In another study, a rehabilitation system was proposed by incorporating IoT-based wearable devices and serious games to improve the rehabilitation experience and provide users with precise measurements and real-time feedback (Song et al, 2016).…”

Design e Saúde: um panorama de estudos relacionados ao desenvolvimento de projetos de Design em ambientes hospitalares no cenário brasileiro

“…Também foram encontrados estudos que trataram do desenvolvimento de equipamento médico-hospitalares, que visam aprimorar a realização de procedimentos hospitalares, tanto para o paciente, quanto para o trabalhador (SILVA et al, 2012;NISHIDA;VIEIRA, 2016;BARRAL;GOMES, 2016;FIALHO et al, 2019;CALLEGARO et al, 2019 Além desses, três estudos foram direcionados ao desenvolvimento de equipamento médicohospitalares relacionados ao enfrentamento da pandemia do coronavírus. Entre eles, um dos estudos trata da criação de um robô teleoperado que visa facilitar a comunicação entre pacientes isolados e seus familiares (FOSSATI et al, 2020).…”

“…Voltando-se para o desenvolvimento de equipamentos médico-hospitalares, cita-se a pesquisa dos autores Callegaro et al (2019), a respeito do desenvolvimento de um dispositivo economicamente acessível e tecnológico para a reabilitação de cotovelo e antebraço, que poderia ser utilizado em hospitais, clínicas, ou na própria residência do paciente. Foi desenvolvido um protótipo funcional e validado com os usuários.…”

“…Foi desenvolvido um protótipo funcional e validado com os usuários. O produto é totalmente fabricado no Brasil, custando menos do que o equipamento importado atualmente utilizado (CALLEGARO et al, 2019).…”