Turgeon Philippe, Dubé Michaël, Laliberté Thierry, Archambault Philippe S, Flamand Véronique H, Routhier François, Campeau-Lecours Alexandre
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration, CIUSSS De La Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada.
Assist Technol. 2022 Mar 4;34(2):170-177. doi: 10.1080/10400435.2020.1734111. Epub 2020 Mar 13.
Many people living with neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy, stroke, muscular dystrophy or dystonia, experience upper limb impairments (muscle spasticity, loss of selective motor control, muscle weakness or tremors) and are unable to eat independently. This article presents the development of a new device to assist with eating, aimed at stabilizing the movement of people who have movement disorders. The design was guided by insights gathered through focus groups, with occupational therapists and engineers, about the challenges faced by individuals who have movement disorders and difficulty in eating autonomously. The proposed assistive device prototype is designed to be fixed on a table and to support a spoon. The mechanism is designed so that the spoon maintains a position parallel to the ground for the user. Dampers and inertia allow stabilizing the user's motion. A preliminary trial with five individuals living with cerebral palsy is presented to assess the prototype's performance and to guide future iterations of the prototype. Task completion time generally decreased and movement fluidity generally improved when using the assistive device prototype. The prototype showed good potential in stabilizing the spoon for the user and improving movement fluidity.
许多患有神经疾病（如脑瘫、中风、肌肉萎缩症或肌张力障碍）的人存在上肢功能障碍（肌肉痉挛、丧失选择性运动控制、肌肉无力或震颤），无法独立进食。本文介绍了一种旨在辅助进食的新设备的研发情况，该设备旨在稳定患有运动障碍的人的动作。该设计是基于通过焦点小组与职业治疗师和工程师收集到的见解，这些见解涉及患有运动障碍且自主进食困难的个人所面临的挑战。所提出的辅助设备原型设计为固定在桌子上并支撑一把勺子。其机制设计成使勺子为用户保持与地面平行的位置。阻尼器和惯性有助于稳定用户的动作。本文展示了对五名脑瘫患者进行的初步试验，以评估该原型的性能并指导该原型的未来迭代。使用辅助设备原型时，任务完成时间总体上减少了，动作流畅性总体上提高了。该原型在为用户稳定勺子和改善动作流畅性方面显示出良好的潜力。
