Stroke patients’ motivation for home-based upper extremity rehabilitation with eHealth tools

Purpose: eHealth-based exercise therapies were developed to increase stroke patients’ adherence to home-based motor rehabilitation. However, these eHealth tools face a rapid decrease in use after a couple of weeks. This study investigates stroke patients’ motivation for home-based upper extremity rehabilitation with eHealth tools and their...

Telerehabilitation of a Exoskeleton-haptic device System: Design and Evaluation on Stability and Transparency

While the presence and demand of robotic rehabilitation devices are rising, not many studies have been performed on haptic communication/ telerehabilitation with these devices. Despite therapists' desire to have the possibility to remain in the loop when their patients are performing exercises. This study aims to provide a telerehabilitation...

Passive Elbow Joint Impedance Identification with the use of an Elbow Device

Neuromuscular diseases often result in elevated passive joint impedance (PJI), impacting the daily lives of affected individuals. To be able to apply assistive devices that compensate for PJI, it is essential to identify the PJI correctly. This study aims to identify and model the PJI of the elbow joint, to improve the control of force-based...

Evaluating the influence of different sit-to- stand strategies on the biomechanics of the upper extremity dependent on age and sex

Introduction: During the sit-to-stand (STS) motion, thigh push-of (TP) is frequently used, yet the biomechanical advantage for the upper extremity, is relatively unknown. In this thesis, the STS motion is analyzed for three different techniques; TP, armrest push-off (AP), and no arm aid (NA). The aim of this study is to determine the...

Cross-Cultural Adaption and Validation of the Dutch Version of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Questionnaire in Juvenile Baseball Pitchers

Monitoring the performance and functional status of baseball pitchers’ upper extremity is important in maintaining the athlete’s health and performance. This study validated a Dutch translation of the original English Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic (KJOC) against the previously validated Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) and...

Opensim upper-extremity modelling: subject-specific scaling- and validation tools

Muscle-driven simulations performed with a musculoskeletal model of the human upper-extremity need to include closed-loop kinematics to capture the limb's full mobility and model the actions of thoracoscapular muscles. On the OpenSim platform, a single upper-extremity model with closed-loop kinematics is available: the thoracoscapular shoulder...

Quantifying neural and non-neural components of wrist hyper-resistance after stroke: Comparing two instrumented assessment methods

Patients with poor upper limb motor recovery after stroke are likely to develop increased resistance to passive wrist extension, i.e., wrist hyper-resistance. Quantification of the underlying neural and non-neural elastic components is of clinical interest. This cross-sectional study compared two methods: a commercially available device ...

Are UCL Injuries a Matter of Bad Luck?: The Role of Variability and Fatigue Quantified

Upper extremity injuries are common in baseball. One of these is the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury. In the field of sports injuries, most research focuses on average kinematics and kinetics between subjects, whereas focusing on within-subject variability appears to be more relevant for determining injury risk. We constructed a simple...

Patient-Tailored Augmented Reality Games for Assessing Upper Extremity Motor Impairments in Parkinson’s Disease and Stroke

In clinical practice, upper extremity motor impairments are commonly assessed with disease-specific, subjectively scored and low-resolution rating scales that often do not consider the variations in tasks and environment that are essential aspects of daily life. Augmented reality (AR) systems with contactless tracking of the hand and upper body...

[POSTER] ChiroChroma: An Augmented Reality Game for the Assessment of Hand Motor Functionality

For a better understanding of how different diseases (e.g. neurovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and musculoskeletal pain conditions) affect human motor function, a uniform, standardized and objective evaluation is a desirable goal expressed within the clinical community. We explore the capabilities of an augmented reality (AR)...

Towards Engaging Upper Extremity Motor Dysfunction Assessment Using Augmented Reality Games

Advances in technology offer new opportunities for a better understanding of how different disorders affect motor function. Our aim is to explore the potential of augmented reality (AR) using free hand and body tracking to develop engaging games for a uniform, cost-effective and objective evaluation of upper extremity motor dysfunction in...

Serious Gaming in Augmented Reality using HMDs for Assessment of Upper Extremity Motor Dysfunctions: User Studies for Engagement and Usability

For a better understanding of how different disorders affect motor function, a uniform, standardized and objective evaluation is a desirable goal for the clinical community. We explore the potential of Augmented Reality (AR) combined with serious gaming and free hand tracking to facilitate objective, cost-effective and patient-friendly methods...

A Haptic Serious Augmented Reality Game for Motor Assessment of Parkinson's Disease Patients

n the clinical community there is a need for assessment tools that allow for objective, quantitative and valid measures of motor dysfunction. In this paper, we report on the design and evaluation of a serious game that engages patients with Parkinson's disease in upper extremity (hand/arm) movements. The game employs augmented reality to show...

New Product Ideas to Support Macro Breaks in Computer Work

A healthy work-to-rest ratio during computer work can be an important part of successful preventive workrelated upper limb disorders (WRULD) intervention. Existing break software applications designed to realise such a work-to-rest ratio often possess product features that limit their functionality. Most applications focus on physical relaxation...

Ultralight Pressure Regulator for Application in Pneumatic Prostheses

Available pressure regulators are considered too heavy for application in pneumatic prostheses. Goal of this paper is developing a lighter pressure regulator adapted for this speci?c application. We present an ultralight mechanical pressure regulator with several possible con?gurations as well as an optimization strategy for easy adaptation of...

The Design of the PLYOS prehensor

Nowadays forearm prosthesis are far from optimal, factors that need to be optimized are the mass, the price and the wear temperature of the prosthesis. This can be done by choosing cardboard as constructive material. In this report the relevant control mechanisms are investigated. A body powered prosthesis voluntary closing control is chosen as...

Design of a transradial socket

Sometimes children are born with (part of) an arm missing. Next to congenital loss, children or adults can loose their arm due to an accident or illness. The missing arm can be replaced with a prosthesis, connected to the arm remnant by a socket. Existing sockets tend to have a hot and humid climate and some sockets are difficult to don and doff...