Development of an Assistive Rehabilitation Device for Upper Limb Extremity

Rehabilitation is a treatment aimed to facilitate the recovery process after injuries and improve quality of life. Stroke is the most frequent problem that can cause disabilities of upper limb. Thus, early rehabilitation process after stroke can help patient regain skills and minimize brain damage and potential complications. In this paper, we describe the design and performance of an assistive rehabilitation wearable device for a stroke patient, to aid the movement of disabled body part mainly in the upper extremity. The system consists of sensors that measure the bending angles of different joints and a game application made up of four levels that track the movement of the joints and fingers. In addition, the proposed device can compute the time taken by the patient at the end of each training session. The game console receives a biofeedback from sensors. The physiotherapist can monitor the progress in healing process by comparing the time scored at the end of each level. The proposed system is tested on one patient who suffers from fingers and wrist disabilities. The results showed enhancement in the movement of wrist and finger joints and the time taken to well achieve each level.