This thesis presents a novel table top hand rehabilitation device. The purpose for creating this device is to assist therapists in treatment of hand after injury. Injuries to the hand are common and can be very debilitating since our hands are our primary means for interacting with our world. The device is capable of independently mobilizing the metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP) in the fingers of the hand, and recording their motion. The device is capable of moving either joint through a range of 0° to 90°, and can be used for either the left or right hand. In the Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) mode, the device moves the MCP and PIP joints through a trajectory that approximates healthy hand motion, known as the minimum jerk model. This is done using a Proportional Integral Differential (PID) controller, which compares the actual position of the device to the desired minimum jerk trajectory. The trajectory following of the minimum jerk model was found to be successful with a maximum error of only 1.46° in the MCP joint and 2.10° in the PIP joint across all trials with injured participants with an average error of 0.11° and 0.14° for the MCP and PIP joints respectively. The device also incorporated various user-friendly features such as user-defined maximum permitted torque, range of motion limits, speed control, and visual feedback. A survey of the participant’s perceived comfort, safety, smoothness and passivity produced positive results. The average responses of the injured hand participants to questions of perceived Comfort, safety and Smoothness were above 9 out of 10 for each question. The average increases in ROM for the active extension of the MCP joint and the PIP joint were 3.3° and 3.2° respectively. The average increases in ROM for the flexion of the MCP joint and the PIP joint were 8.9° and 7.2° respectively. This is a sign that the device has an effect on the participant even if this effect can not be shown to last beyond the one hour session. It will require further testing with a long term group of participants and a control group to determine if this is a lasting effect and if the device is ready for clinical use. The active resistance and haptic modes are both operational but require additional work to increase smoothness and stability before testing can begin.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/3016 |
| Date | 31 August 2010 |
| Creators | Birch, Benjamin John |
| Contributors | Dechev, Nikolai, Park, Edward Jung Wook |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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