Clinical evaluation of prosthetic hand: A systematic review on existing methods, limitations and future directions

Abstract

Clinical testing of a prosthetic hand is a collaborative process between roboticists, prosthetists and researchers, aiming to produce the best possible functionality and comfort while satisfying the needs of users. Although many studies have reported on the existing state and future possibilities of prosthetic hands, few have studied the role of clinical testing in the development of prosthetic hands. This review aims to study existing literature on the clinical evaluation of prosthetic hands, present an overview of current clinical testing approaches, highlight their limitations, and outline potential future directions. A keyword-based search strategy was used to scan five electronic databases: DOAJ, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and IEEE Xplore. This paper provides an overview of various clinical testing of research prototypes and their clinical efficacy. This manuscript detailed the current scenario of clinical testing and prosthetic hand assessment methods. The potential impact of prosthesis simulators on saving time and resources in clinical testing is highlighted. The trend of clinical testing from traditional to big data methods for more user-centric developments has been identified. Moreover, the limitations of existing clinical studies and the future direction of clinical testing are presented for further community research.