A redesign of the weighted vest used in Progressive resistance exercise training for children with Cerebral Palsy

A redesign of the weighted vest used in Progressive resistance exercise training for children with Cerebral Palsy

Koeman, B.

Molenbroek, J.F.M. (mentor)
Jansen, K.M.B. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Applied Ergonomics and Design

Integrated Product Design

2017-02-02

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability in children in The Netherlands caused by brain damage. Children with CP have difficulties with movement and/or a deviating posture. To increase the mobility of the child, physiotherapists use progressive resistance exercise training (PRE) to strengthen the leg muscles of the child. During this training the child has to do exercises like standing up from a chair and stepping on a block while wearing a weighted vest. When the child is making progress, the physiotherapist can add load to the vest to make the exercises a bit more difficult. Existing vests used during PRE training are unfortunately not functional: they are a hassle to put on, cannot carry enough weight, are not comfortable and children do not like wearing the vests. This project focused on the design of a user friendly weighted vest used during PRE training for children with CP.The design of the weighted vest comes in two sizes, which have a large range of adjustability to fit children between 5 to 10 years old. The vest consists out of a hipband that is hold into place with adjustable shoulder straps. The hipband is easy to adjust with Velcro. Unique of this vest is that most of the load is worn on the hips, which is closer to the center of gravity of the child making him/her more stable during the exercises. The load is attached to the vest with magnetic Fidlock connectors, which makes it really fast and easy to attach and remove load. A total of 10kg can be fitted on the largest size, which would be enough to train a child of 10 years old.

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3b32203b-5885-4b32-8d09-6ab5e091220b

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2017 Koeman, B.