An Interactive Upper Limb Rehab Device for Elderly Stroke Patients

Abstract

Elderly stroke patients need intensive and task-specific rehabilitation exercises to improve manual dexterity. Most of the robot-mediated devices used for these exercises currently do not fully motivate them to complete the exercises or measure the progress of the therapy. In this study, we developed an ergonomic, portable upper limb rehabilitation device (QikRehab) with the help of interactive media. Interactive rehabilitation games with options to monitor the therapy progress is the design novelty of this device. Three prototypes on the console design and fabrication are investigated in sequence, which are evolved based on the feedbacks and comments from therapists. Two rapid prototyping (RP) technologies are utilized to fabricate the second and the third prototypes for initial user study and feedback collection. Four exercises including grip, pitch, twist and roll are designed on this console to simulate upper limb motions within activities of daily living. To motivate old adults to exercise more conveniently in either hospital or home, three interactive rehabilitation games (Pig Hole, Rat Hunting and Intensive Grip) are designed to motivate such exercises, the achievement obtained in the games are automatically recorded for movement ability assessment. Furthermore, we present several discussions on the pilot user testing through a workshop and follow up interview and suggest several future improvements of this device.