Stroke Victims and Physical Therapy Gloves

It was reported on Oct. 23, 2012 that a mechanical glove has been devised to aid stroke victims by a Victoria University, New Zealand student. Abigail Arulandu has joined a field that already has physical therapy products such as the HANDTUTOR that have proven success records that achieve the same thing and have been assisting stroke patients for several years. Since most stroke victims have clenched hands as a result of the stroke the purpose of therapy is to get them to expand and reuse the hand. Ms. Arulandu’s device has sensors that measure exerted force as does the HANDTUTOR. The information gleaned is transmitted to physical therapists for analysis. The HANDTUTOR system uses exclusively designed games such as: Snowball, Car race, Bubbles, Asteroid attack and others to challenge the patient in an enjoyable way. These exercises bring the patient to a state where they will be able to function as before the stroke. Arulandu is attempting to emulate known physical therapy solutions for post stroke rehabilitation such as the HANDTUTOR and should be commended for her efforts. The HANDTUTOR is one of several similar products already on the market such as the ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR that are available and currently being used in leading U.S. and European hospitals and clinics. The ARMTUTOR is the device of choice for injuries and diseases affecting arm, elbow and shoulder problems. The LEGTUTOR assists patients who have had knee or hip replacement surgery. The 3DTUTOR is a wireless motion feedback device that can be positioned on discrete joints of the head, trunk, upper or lower extremities. This allows for evaluation and treatment of the joint of choice. The 3DTUTOR can be used alone or in combination with the ARMTUTOR or LEGTUTOR to exercise additional interjoint coordination movements. The TUTOR system has also been used to rehabilitate victims of traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s, CP, MS, Brachial Plexus Injuries and more. All of the TUTORs can be used at home through the use of telerehabilitation and are fully certified by the FDA and CE. Prototypes of new and similar products are fun to create but why duplicate what is effective already? More information about the TUTORs is available at WWW.MEDITOUCH.CO.IL