Vibrotactile Cueing using Wearable Computers for Overcoming Learned Non-Use in Chronic Stroke

Abstract

Outpatient stroke rehabilitation is often lengthy and expensive due to patients' lack of functional use of the impaired arm outside of the clinic caused by "learned non-use." Learned non-use is detrimental to stroke recovery, often resulting in chronic disability. To overcome learned non-use, a wearable "personal assistant" solution is proposed that employs ubiquitous cueing to stimulate patient use of the paretic arm while outside of therapy sessions. A pilot user study is presented that evaluated stroke survivors' tolerance and acceptance of cueing, and the usability of the proposed implementation.