As the most common cause of adult disability in the United States, stroke leaves many survivors unable to perform tasks that were once part of their daily routine. Much of the time the disabilities are treatable, but the high cost of rehabilitation therapy leaves many patients to cope on their own.
Now, a new device has the potential to reduce the cost of therapy while increasing access by performing many of the therapists’ tasks robotically. Jay Alberts, assistant professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Applied Physiology, and colleagues from Emory University are beginning a two-year study to see if the Hand Mentor is a feasible complement to individual therapy.
"The question we’re trying to answer is ‘can we get the same level of improvement while cutting the time a patient spends with a therapist in half?'” said Alberts. “If we can, that could make treatment more accessible by making it more affordable for insurance companies to cover.”
Stroke patient Herbert Brooks has difficulty controlling his right hand. A pre-trial participant, he slips his arm into the Mentor, resting his fingers on the hand grip. His therapist punches a few buttons on the device’s computer. The Mentor’s air muscles contract, extending his wrist to a programmed angle.
The rest is up to Brooks. The machine stops pulling and the therapist asks Brooks to extend his wrist the rest of the way. All the while the Mentor is measuring how far he extends, how much force he is using and how much electrical activity his muscles are experiencing. It also records the resistance he gives as the machine pulls his hand into position. If he’s improving, the resistance should decrease.