HandTutor Improves Cognitive Impairments of TBI Patients

Lana J. Ozen and Myra A. Fernandes of the Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada as reported in the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology discuss the fact that long-term persistent attention and memory difficulties following a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) often go undetected on standard neuropsychological tests, despite complaints by mild TBI individuals. They conducted a visual Repetition Detection working memory task to digits, in which they manipulated task difficulty by increasing cognitive load, to identify subtle deficits long after a mild TBI. Twenty-six undergraduate students with a self-report of one mild TBI, which occurred at least 6 months prior, and 31 non-head-injured controls took part in the study. Participants were not informed until study completion that the study’s purpose was to examine cognitive changes following a mild TBI, to reduce the influence of “diagnosis threat” on performance. Neuropsychological tasks did not differentiate the groups, though mild TBI participants reported higher state anxiety levels. On their working memory task, the mild TBI group took significantly longer to accurately detect repeated targets on the task, suggesting that slowed information processing is a long-term consequence of mild TBI. Accuracy was comparable in the low-load condition and, unexpectedly, mild TBI performance surpassed that of controls in the high-load condition. Temporal analysis of target identification suggested a strategy difference between groups: mild TBI participants made a significantly greater number of accurate responses following the target’s offset, and significantly fewer erroneous distracter responses prior to target onset, compared with controls. Results suggest that long after a mild TBI, high-functioning young adults invoke a strategy of delaying their identification of targets in order to maintain, and facilitate, accuracy on cognitively demanding tasks.
The HandTutor, together with its sister devices (ArmTutor, LegTutor, 3DTutor) improves fine motor, sensory and cognitive impairments through intensive active exercises with augmented feedback for TBI patients.The HandTutor™ evaluates and treats finger and hand movement dysfunction through exercises that encourage extension/ flexion of the finger(s) and wrist.
The HandTutor™ system consists of a safe comfortable glove, with position and speed sensors that precisely record finger and wrist motion, and dedicated rehabilitation software. The ergonomic gloves come in five sizes for both right and left hands. The rehabilitation system employs the known concept of biofeedback to give occupational and physical therapists access to an affordable user friendly hand rehabilitation package. The HandTutor™ can also be used in combination with the 3DTutor™ for arm rehabilitation. The HandTutor™ is CE medical and FDA certified. See www.HandTutor.com