A Development of Wiping Rehabilitation System Using Leap Motion for Patients With Upper Limb Paralysis

Abstract

The development of medical technology and medical devices has extended the lifespan of many people, but it has caused problems in an aging society. Elderly people are more likely to suffer injuries due to age-related muscle weakness and cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke occur at a higher rate in the elderly. These injuries and illnesses are known to cause motor dysfunction as a sequela. Motor dysfunction affects daily movements. Therefore, the importance of rehabilitation to recover motor dysfunction is increasing. In addition, rehabilitation of the elderly takes longer time to recover than that of the young. Therefore, physical therapists and occupational therapists require a lot of time to monitor and support patient rehabilitation, which is a heavy burden. In addition, the course of treatment is often performed based on the subjectivity of the they, and it is not possible to know the quantitative results. Elderly people who need long-term rehabilitation are more likely to lose motivation, and it is thought that knowing the progress of treatment will keep the motivation. Some rehabilitation simulations have been developed to solve these problems. In this study, we developed a virtual wiping rehabilitation system using Leap Motion and studied its effectiveness. In this experiment, we measured with the right and left hands with the range of motion. The measurement items are the position of the hand, the pressure that the hand exerts on the desk, and the end time of rehabilitation. In the experiment, it was possible to measure the movement of each hand under different conditions. Differences could be observed in both the completion time and the hand motions required to complete the wiping task.