Abstract
The major cause of disability is stroke. It is the second highest cause of death after coronary heart disease in Australia. In this paper, a post stroke therapeutic device has been designed and developed for hand motor function rehabilitation that a stroke survivor can use for bilateral movement practice. A prototype of the device was fabricated that can fully flex and extend metacarpophalangeal (MCP), proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints of the fingers, and interphalangeal (IP), metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and trapeziometacarpal (IM) joints of the thumb of the left hand (impaired hand), based on movements of the right hand's (healthy hand) fingers. Out of 21 degrees of freedom (DOFs) of hand fingers, the prototype of the hand exoskeleton allowed fifteen degrees of freedom (DOFs), with three degrees of freedom (DOFs) for each finger and three degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the thumb. In addition, testing of the device on a healthy subject was conducted to validate the design requirements.
Highlights
Studies have shown, in Australia and various other countries around the world, that most adults who are suffering from disability have experienced a stroke
A major focus of rehabilitation research has been to understand and repair hand motor function after a person has had a stroke, since the human hand plays a vital role in the daily activities of a person's life
Motor rehabilitation research has shown that to speed up the recovery process of upper limb function, activity dependent interventions can be used to assist the use of paralysed limb [2]
Summary
In Australia and various other countries around the world, that most adults who are suffering from disability have experienced a stroke. A significant amount of research has been done on stroke because its causes deficiencies in various neurological areas and disability in the motor system [1]. A major focus of rehabilitation research has been to understand and repair hand motor function after a person has had a stroke, since the human hand plays a vital role in the daily activities of a person's life. In the rehabilitation of hand motor function, the major concern has been how to achieve optimum restoration of hand function. Motor rehabilitation research has shown that to speed up the recovery process of upper limb function, activity dependent interventions can be used to assist the use of paralysed limb [2]. While positive outcomes have been obtained from therapies such as constrainwww.intechopen.com
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