Abstract
For more than a decade, many countries have been actively developing robotic assistive devices to assist in the rehabilitation of individuals with limb disability to regain function in the extremities. The exoskeleton assistive device in this study has been designed primarily for hemiplegic stroke patients to aid in the extension of fingers to open up the palm to simulate the effects of rehabilitation. This exoskeleton was designed as an anterior-support type to achieve palmar extension and acts as a robotic assistive device for rehabilitation in bilateral upper limb task training. Testing results show that this wearable exoskeleton assistive device with human factor consideration using percentile dimensions can provide comfortable wear on patients as well as adequate torque to pull individual fingers into flexion towards the palm for rehabilitation. We hope this exoskeleton device can help stroke patients with loss of function in the upper extremities to resume motor activities in order to maintain activities of daily living.
Highlights
There are two hundred million people all over the world suffering from loss of limb function [1], and most of these functions could be recovered with rehabilitation
The design concept of the exoskeleton assistive device in this study stems from multiple medical studies for the rehabilitation of hemiplegic stroke patients; it can provide a better therapeutic effect in the rehabilitation process
The assistive device weighs only around 800 g in its entirety; is portable; provides a more powerful torque to pull on the fingers; and can accommodate hemiplegic stroke patients with varying degrees of disease severity, differing palm sizes, differing finger segment lengths, and differing finger breadth to cater to most patients
Summary
There are two hundred million people all over the world suffering from loss of limb function [1], and most of these functions could be recovered with rehabilitation. For more than a decade, many countries around the world are actively developing assistive devices using robotic technologies to help patients with loss of limb function due to various causes to undergo repetitive rehabilitation [5,6]: Jansen et al designed a particular type of hybrid assistive limb exoskeleton for patients with spinal cord injury undergoing rehabilitation and underwent clinical trial with 21 patients; after training of 90 days, all patients showed significant improvement in their functional and ambulatory mobility without the exoskeleton [7]. Some devices even enhance lower extremity performance [12,13,14,15] to provide better mobility to patients with knee injuries
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