Saturday, September 14, 2013

The Development of Finger Rehabilitation Device for Stroke Patients

Your doctor will need to get this to see if this is a usable protocol for getting your fingers back. And ask why the hell they didn't know about this before you did?
http://www.scientific.net/AMM.393.604
Periodical Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 393)
Main Theme Advances in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering
Edited by Wahyu Kuntjoro, Aidah Jumahat, Farrahshaida Mohd Salleh and Rosnadiah Bahsan
Pages 604-610
DOI 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.393.604
Citation Abdul Hakim Ab Rahim et al., 2013, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 393, 604
Online since September, 2013
Authors Abdul Hakim Ab Rahim, Mohd Nor Azmi Bin Ab Patar, Adam Tan Mohd Amin, Jamaluddin Mahmud
Keywords Acute Stroke, Extension, Finger Rehabilitation, Flexion, Orthosis
Price US$ 28,-
Most stroke patients who have lost the ability to use their fingers do not recover the functions of the fingers in their activity of daily living (ADL). This paper presents a novel approach in finger rehabilitation for acute paralysed stroke survivors. Based on repetitive exercise concept, the device is designed to provide support for fingers to do flexion and extension movements according to the patients range of motion. A conceptual design of the device is proposed after considering the current mechanism and control from similar current devices published and commercialised. A comparison between 4 existing main working mechanisms: (1) Pneumatic Cylinders, (2) Artificial Rubber Muscles, (3) Linkage Mechanism, (4) Cable-Driven Mechanism is also provided in this paper. The key for designing the device is home-based practice, easy to use and affordable. Further investigation and experiments on the proposed: Cable Actuated Finger Exoskeleton (CAFEx) are currently still in progress.

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