Developing an anti-spastic orthosis for daily home-use of stroke patients using smart memory alloys and 3D printing technologies

Abstract

Spasticity is an important factor limiting independency and activity of daily living for post-stroke patients. Our aim was to develop a cost effective, customized, lightweight active orthosis, which is convenient for daily home use.The study describes the steps of the development by using cutting edge technologies, as 3D printing for the frame of the device and nitinol smart memory alloy as the active part of the orthosis. Polyamide and thermoplastic polyurethane materials were characterized in terms of mechanical behaviour in different ambient conditions. To access the feasibility of the orthosis 6 voluntary post-stroke patients were asked to test the functionality with manual function test, daily living functionality tests and Likert scale. Movement analysis was used to evaluate the range of movement in the orthosis.The results showed significantly higher functionality by using the orthosis on manual function test, most of the daily functional tests, also the overall personal impressions accessed by Likert scale were positive.The new anti-spastic orthosis is a smart, active, lightweight, personalized device, which seems to be effective help for post-stroke patients to overcome spasticity. According to the initial data it is suitable for home use, therefore offers a convenient solution for advanced rehabilitation.

Keywords

• Stroke
• upper limb
• rehabilitation
• 3D printing
• shape memory alloy
• functional dynamic orthosis