title: Development of a novel haptic glove for improving finger dexterity in poststroke rehabilitation.
abstract: Almost all stroke patients experience a certain degree of fine motor impairment, and impeded finger movement may limit activities in daily life. Thus, to improve the quality of life of stroke patients, designing an efficient training device for fine motor rehabilitation is crucial. This study aimed to develop a novel fine motor training glove that integrates a virtual-reality based interactive environment with vibrotactile feedback for more effective post stroke hand rehabilitation. The proposed haptic rehabilitation device is equipped with small DC vibration motors for vibrotactile feedback stimulation and piezoresistive thin-film force sensors for motor function evaluation. Two virtual-reality based games ``gopher hitting'' and ``musical note hitting'' were developed as a haptic interface. According to the designed rehabilitation program, patients intuitively push and practice their fingers to improve the finger isolation function. Preliminary tests were conducted to assess the feasibility of the developed haptic rehabilitation system and to identify design concerns regarding the practical use in future clinical testing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Ying
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Mackey Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Cheng
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.affiliation: Mackey Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Ching
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D005385:Fingers / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017575:Gloves, Protective; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation
keywords: Hand rehabilitation; finger dexterity; haptics; vibrotactile feedback; virtual reality