Development of an Exoskeleton Platform of the Finger for Objective Patient Monitoring in Rehabilitation
Nikolas Jakob Wilhelm,
Sami Haddadin,
Jan Josef Lang,
Carina Micheler,
Florian Hinterwimmer,
Anselm Reiners,
Rainer Burgkart,
Claudio Glowalla
Affiliations
Nikolas Jakob Wilhelm
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
Sami Haddadin
Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Munich, 80333 Munich, Germany
Jan Josef Lang
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
Carina Micheler
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
Florian Hinterwimmer
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
Anselm Reiners
Klinik für Frührehabilitation und Physikalische Medizin, Zentrum für Orthopädie, Unfallchirurgie und Sportmedizin, München Klinik Bogenhausen, 81925 Munich, Germany
Rainer Burgkart
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
Claudio Glowalla
Department of Orthopedics and Sports Orthopedics, Klinikum rechts der Isar, School of Medicine, 80333 Munich, Germany
This paper presents the application of an adaptive exoskeleton for finger rehabilitation. The system consists of a force-controlled exoskeleton of the finger and wireless coupling to a mobile application for the rehabilitation of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) patients. The exoskeleton has sensors for motion detection and force control as well as a wireless communication module. The proposed mobile application allows to interactively control the exoskeleton, store collected patient-specific data, and motivate the patient for therapy by means of gamification. The exoskeleton was applied to three CRPS patients over a period of six weeks. We present the design of the exoskeleton, the mobile application with its game content, and the results of the performed preliminary patient study. The exoskeleton system showed good applicability; recorded data can be used for objective therapy evaluation.
