Design Suggestions of the Clinical Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Equipment for Stroke Patients

Abstract

Rehabilitation products are the most important and indispensable tools. It should be increase treatment effectiveness and motivation for the patients and to reduce the occupational therapists work loading. The purpose of this study was to survey the usage problems and needs of the conventional Stacking cones for stroke patients and occupational therapists by field observe and in-depth interview. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) the improvement suggestions of Stacking cones are to add the friction materials on the bottom of the platform to improve the sliding problem, to provide different sizes and shapes of objects to replacing the cones, to change the way for fingers grasp, to increase the product interesting, to record the track of the movement and the number of movements. (2) The design suggestions of the Stacking cones for home used: to use the items obtained at home (such as: plastic cups, bottles, yogurt bottles and other items) to replace conical cup; Treatment activities, such as: pouring, eating, drinking, wiping the table of action. (3) Based on suggestions, a Checkerboard upper limb rehabilitation product design proposal was proposed. The design features are: The magnetic force of the magnet is applied as a frictional force; the backplane has a support frame that adjusts the slope of the platform; depending on the degrees of recovery of the patient’s hand function, objects of different sizes can be selected. Further research is needed to examine the effects and intensity of using it in rehabilitation.