Use of a pneumatic glove for hand rehabilitation following stroke

Hand impairment is common following stroke and is often resistant to traditional therapy methods. Successful interventions have stressed the importance of repeated practice to facilitate rehabilitation. Thus, we have developed a servo-controlled glove to assist extension of individual digits to prom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2009 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vol. 2009; pp. 2434 - 2437
Main Authors Connelly, L., Stoykov, M.E., Yicheng Jia, Toro, M.L., Kenyon, R.V., Kamper, D.G.
Format Conference Proceeding Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States IEEE 01.01.2009
Subjects
Aged
Bladder
Computer Simulation
Equipment Design
Ergonomics - methods
Exercise Therapy
Extremities
Fingers
Hand - physiopathology
Hand Strength
Humans
Impedance
Medical treatment
Middle Aged
Pilot Projects
Recovery of Function
Servomechanisms
Stroke Rehabilitation
Treatment Outcome
Upper Extremity
USA Councils
Valves
Virtual environment
Wrist
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Summary:Hand impairment is common following stroke and is often resistant to traditional therapy methods. Successful interventions have stressed the importance of repeated practice to facilitate rehabilitation. Thus, we have developed a servo-controlled glove to assist extension of individual digits to promote practice of grasp-and-release movements with the hand. This glove, the PneuGlove, permits free movement of the arm throughout its workspace. A novel immersive virtual reality environment was created for training movement in conjunction with the device. Seven stroke suvrvivors with chronic hand impairment participated in 18 training sessions with the PneuGlove over 6 weeks. Overall, subjects displayed a significant 6-point improvement in the upper extremity score on the Fugl-Meyer assessment and this increase was maintained at the evaluation held one month after conclusion of all training (p < 0.01). The majority of this gain came from an increase in the hand/wrist score (3.8-point increase, p < 0.01). Thus, the system shows promise for rehabilitative training of hand movements after stroke.
ISSN:1094-687X
1557-170X
1558-4615
DOI:10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5335400