Active Assistance Stroke Rehab Device for Finger Mobility

 

Student Team: Mo’ Movement

Luke Jourden, Aditi Kumar (LinkedIn), Kajol Shah, and Bianca Shrestha (LinkedIn, Resume)

 

Sponsor:

Motus Nova, LLC.

 

Project Description: 

Stroke, defined as a rupture or blockage of a blood vessel due to a clot, is one of the leading causes of long-term disability. Each year, 795,000 people in the United States suffer from a stroke and more than 80% require upper limb therapy. Rehabilitative training may increase neuroplasticity, which is essential in allowing stroke survivors to recover motor function. Targeted and repetitive therapy for the upper limbs is critical in assisting survivors recover their ability to perform basic activities of daily living (ADL) such as eating, bathing, and getting dressed. Clinical physical therapy is labor intensive, expensive, and lacks dosing. Several at-home therapy devices in the market are passive assistance, which are unusable for stroke survivors who have severely limited capabilities in movement of their upper limbs. In other words, these devices provide no active assistance, an external force generated from the device that increases range of motion of the upper limb. In our research, we came across Motus Nova, a local biotech startup company that aims to revolutionize stroke therapy. Their product, the Hand Mentor, is a video game based therapy device that provides active assistance and is specifically designed for at-home use. The device, however, lacks the ability to exercise the fingers. In agreement with Motus Nova, we have redesigned their existing Hand Mentor platform to incorporate finger therapy. We have also created our own video game that allows users to practice the grasping motion required to accomplish ADL and remain motivated while engaging in therapy. The Finger Mentor is novel because our solution would be the first at-home, active assistance device in the market that specifically focuses on therapy for the fingers. Our game based Finger Mentor may aid millions of stroke survivors to regain normalcy in their lives.

 

 

 

Expo Video Showcase: 

[Video not available due to intellectual property management]

Expo Poster Showcase: