Deans' stroke musings: A Smart Textile Biofeedback Training System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation After Stroke: Co-Design Development and Evaluation Study

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, April 16, 2026

A Smart Textile Biofeedback Training System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation After Stroke: Co-Design Development and Evaluation Study

I must be missing something, for persons like me, there are no signals sent down to the arm since dead brain doesn't send anything. How is this supposed to work?

A Smart Textile Biofeedback Training System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation After Stroke: Co-Design Development and Evaluation Studyc v

A Smart Textile Biofeedback Training System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation After Stroke: Co-Design Development and Evaluation Study

Maria Munoz-Novoa^{1, 2}

; Li Guo³

; Anna Björkquist³

; Morten B Kristoffersen^{4, 5}

; Peiman Khorramshahi⁶

; Leif Sandsjö^{2, 7}

; Margit Alt Murphy^{1, 8}

Abstract

Background:An increasing number of rehabilitation technologies are being developed to support upper limb rehabilitation after stroke, with smart textile solutions for surface electromyography (sEMG) emerging as a promising approach. Early end-user involvement is crucial for developing user-friendly and clinically valid rehabilitation tools.

Objective:This study aims to refine and evaluate the prototype design and usability of a smart textile biofeedback system for self-administered upper limb training after stroke.

Methods:The training system includes a knitted smart textile sleeve with integrated electrodes over the forearm muscles, an sEMG unit, and tablet-based biofeedback software. An iterative co-design process was followed, including initial testing, demonstration sessions with end users (9 clinicians and 10 individuals with stroke), and a final evaluation of the co-design process. Participants’ experiences were gathered through semistructured interviews, analyzed using content analysis, and the User Experience Questionnaire. The co-design team included experts in stroke rehabilitation, textile engineering, biomedical engineering, software development, and human factors, as well as a research partner with lived experience after stroke.

Results:The perspectives of the end users and the expert team were collectively integrated into prototype refinements of the sleeve and training software to meet the needs of the intended target group. The experiences of end users formed 2 main categories: “This could be an exciting new training tool for stroke rehabilitation” and “The tool works well, but some changes could enhance independent training.” End users found the smart textile sleeve and biofeedback system easy to use and saw potential for integrating it into their training routines. Both end-user groups rated the system as attractive, stimulating, and novel.

Conclusions:The results of this study establish a necessary ground toward the development of a smart textile sEMG biofeedback system for self-administered upper limb training after stroke. Findings from the co-design process support the continued development and evaluation of the system as a self-administered upper limb training tool for individuals living with stroke.

JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol 2026;13:e77999

doi:10.2196/77999