Constant torque gravity compensation: Designing a wrist support for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy patients

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients suffer from a severe form of progressive muscular weakness. Consequently, as the disease progresses these patients become more and more dependent on assistive devices for their daily activities. For instance lifting their arms against gravity already becomes challenging. So far, a considerable amount of...

Designing Motivational Data for Males with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a serious hereditary muscle disease that almost only occurs in boys and men and causes the muscles to become weaker over time. Given scientific research thus far, they are encouraged to obtain and maintain an active lifestyle. This may help delay the symptoms of the disease and help preserve their upper and...

An active thumb module for the Symbihand: Assisting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy patients in ADL

Patients who suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, have to live with hand impairments for over 15 years. This significantly influences their ability to live independently. Currently, static splinting interspersed with stretching of the hand is the course of treatment for this patient group and developed active hand orthoses focus mainly on...

Design of an exoskeleton maturing with boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy have a different life from most children. As they grow up, their muscles lose strength progressively. Around the age of 10, they lose their ability to walk, in their teens they slowly lose their arm function, in their twenties they often need respiratory support and their life expectancy is usually between...

A case study with Symbihand: An sEMG-controlled electrohydraulic hand orthosis for individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

With recent improvements in healthcare, individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have prolonged life expectancy, and it is therefore vital to preserve their independence. Hand function plays a central role in maintaining independence in daily living. This requires sufficient grip force and the ability to modulate it with no...

Unraveling upper extremity performance in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A biophysical model

This study aimed to identify critical physiological outcome variables underlying reduced upper extremity task performance in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). These critical variables were used to propose an explanatory biophysical model of the upper extremity working mechanisms in DMD. Twenty-three DMD patients (8–21 years) participated in...

3D Printed Soft Fluidic Actuator for an Assistive Hand Exoskeleton Device

In the following study, a new concept of an assistive hand exoskeleton device for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients is presented. Due to the nature of this disease (causes progressive muscle degeneration from a young age of five years old), the requirements for such a device are very demanding, with extreme space and weight limitations,...

Slender Spring Systems, for a close-to-body dynamic arm support for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

The goal of this dissertation is to develop a wearable, passive, dynamic arm support that provides users with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with support to perform activities of daily living. The arm support needs to be inconspicuous and not stigmatizing, to encourage the users to participate in social activities. Ideally, the device fits...