School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
IoT Research Center, College of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
Comput Intell Neurosci. 2022 Jun 16;2022:3754931. doi: 10.1155/2022/3754931. eCollection 2022.
Poststroke and traumatic elbow injuries are the most common cause of elbow stiffness, which results in loss of functional range of motion (ROM). Various studies support early mobilization of the elbow joint after injury or after surgery to reduce risks of elbow stiffness development. After hospitalization, patients are required to follow a long-term rehabilitation program during home recovery. Still, most patients do not adhere to their clinical therapy schedule due to either rehabilitation cost, social obligations, negligence, or lack of inspiration. Moreover, the numbers of therapists and assessment equipment are insufficient. This study introduces a smart elbow brace (SEB) as a home-based rehabilitation device that reduces regular in-patient rehabilitation costs and therapist workload and motivates patients to comply with the rehabilitation program that enhances the achievement of rehabilitation goals. Our device has two active degrees of freedom (2-DoF) that allow extension, flexion, pronation, and supination elbow motions. An extra sliding joint between forearm and wrist is added, which helps dump forces concentration at the elbow joint during extension-flexion movement. Mechanical design requirements, motion-tracking systems, and serious game development are described. The feasibility of a proposed SEB device is tested with five healthy subjects playing developed serious games with the device. The results show that subjects can attain maximum and minimum angles of flexion-extension and pronation-supination motion designed for elbow stiffness rehabilitation. The SEB device will be beneficial and be used at home as a complementary tool to support elbow stiffness rehabilitation during long-term home recovery.
脑卒中后和创伤性肘损伤是肘部僵硬的最常见原因，这导致了功能活动范围（ROM）的丧失。各种研究支持在受伤或手术后尽早活动肘部关节，以降低肘部僵硬发展的风险。住院后，患者需要在家庭康复期间遵循长期的康复计划。然而，由于康复费用、社会义务、疏忽或缺乏灵感，大多数患者无法坚持其临床治疗方案。此外，治疗师和评估设备的数量不足。本研究介绍了一种智能肘部支具（SEB），作为一种基于家庭的康复设备，可降低常规住院康复费用和治疗师工作量，并激励患者遵守康复计划，从而提高康复目标的实现。我们的设备有两个主动自由度（2-DoF），允许肘部进行伸展、弯曲、旋前和旋后运动。在前臂和手腕之间增加了一个额外的滑动关节，这有助于在伸展-弯曲运动期间减轻肘部的力集中。描述了机械设计要求、运动跟踪系统和严肃游戏的开发。通过五名健康受试者使用该设备玩开发的严肃游戏，测试了提出的 SEB 设备的可行性。结果表明，受试者可以达到为肘部僵硬康复设计的最大和最小弯曲-伸展以及旋前-旋后角度。SEB 设备将是有益的，并在家中用作长期家庭康复期间支持肘部僵硬康复的补充工具。
