Hand movement function rehabilitation evaluation system based on inertial sensors

For stroke patients in the home environment, it often lacks quantitative evaluation system to assess hand motor function during their rehabilitation process. In this paper, a wearable hand movement function rehabilitation evaluation system based on inertial sensors was designed. An inertial sensing glove was implemented with inertial sensors attached to the finger joints and opisthenar. The acceleration, angular velocity and attitude angle information of specific hand joints were then collected. Joint range of motion, tremor and flexibility of hand, three representative indexes in medical rehabilitation, were calculated and analyzed to evaluate hand motor function by exploiting kinematic data from wearable rehabilitation assessment system. A volunteer with hand motor impairments after fracture was recruited to participate in the hand rehabilitation experiment. Preliminary experimental results verified the feasibility and validity of the proposed wearable hand movement rehabilitation evaluation system.