An exoskeleton rehabilitation system to train hand function after stroke

Abstract

Stroke is a leading cause of disability in adults. Notably, about 75% of stroke survivors have upper limb damage, which greatly reduces the quality of life of the patient after recovery. The current routine rehabilitation recommendation is repetitive functional training (exercise-based training) to promote nervous system recovery, and then realize exercise rehabilitation. The cost, efficiency and success rate of traditional treatment methods are unstable due to various factors such as the professional level of therapists, the time required and the workload of therapists. In the case, rehabilitation robot-assisted therapy brings a new direction for the rehabilitation of stroke hemiplegia. In this paper, a new type of hand rehabilitation robot is designed based on the physiological structure of fingers, which is used to assist stroke patients in different stages of finger movement rehabilitation training. It can help the patient to practice grasp adduction and abduction repeatedly, reducing the burden on the patient. Secondly, in this paper, the degrees of freedom and movement of each finger joint are analyzed and calculated. Through modelling and finite element analysis based on Solid works to simulate the stress changes of exoskeleton in different rehabilitation stages, a model suitable for different stages of rehabilitation training is put forward.