The HandTutor–a Rehabilitative Tool for Stroke Patients

Student researchers in Northeastern University have created a post-stroke rehabilitation glove designed to increase hand strength through the use of finger extension to improve cognitive ability and complete everyday tasks such as turning a doorknob, picking up a glass or unscrewing a light bulb.
The innovative device was supported by a three-year, $270,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
The device was developed using 3-D additive manufacturing with embedded sensors and can be customized to fit a patient’s hand.
To improve cognitive function, users match colored LEDs (light-emitting diodes) on the device’s fingertips with those on external objects fashioned into household shapes, such as cups or doorknobs.
Pacella, a senior mechanical engineering major, praised his group’s final design. “No other device assists with opening the hand and has cognitive exercises like this,” he said. “Most commercial hand motion rehab devices don’t use sensors to measure range of motion and control of the fingers.”
The device still needs work to be done, though, according to its designers. It needs to become more user friendly, thinner and stronger.
While the work is impressive this technology already exists in other commercial devices such as the HANDTUTOR. With the HANDTUTOR the patient opens and closes his hand to activate sensors connected to dedicated software. The software includes challenging games that afford the patient the opportunity to be involved in extensive exercises that will bring him back to normal usage of his affected limb or joint. The HANDTUTOR together with its sister devices (ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, 3DTUTOR) is one of the most cost effective rehabilitation tools around and is already being used in leading U.S. and European hospitals and clinics. It is also available for home use through the use of telerehabilitation and is designed for children from the age of 4 as well as adults
See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

The HandTutor as a Near-Natural Rehabilitative Tool

An old saying states that if you want to help a hungry person survive you should not give him a fish to eat but rather a fishing rod so he can fish for food himself. When an individual is recovering from a brain or spinal cord injury or suffers from Parkinson’s disease, stroke or other limb disabling illnesses the best method of recovery, if possible, is a natural one. Rather than be encumbered with bulky,expensive and complicated machinery that merely sends an electronic signal or causes the joint or limb to move through an external force it would be far more efficient and enabling to have the patient himself ”do the work”.
The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR are just those kind of devices. They guide, but don’t cause, the patient to move his affected limb or joint. The patient must use his own effort to excel at one of the many challenging games that exist on dedicated software created exclusively for the TUTORs. These exercises are then recorded and customized to the patient’s level by physical and occupational therapists who monitor the patient’s progress. By implementing this system the patient will speed up his fine motor, sensory and cognitive impairments so that he has a successful recovery and can regain his activities of daily living (ADL‘s) and thereby his quality of life.
Currently in use in leading U.S. and European hospitals the TUTOR system can be used at home as well through the use of telerehabilitation. It is designed for children from the age of 4 and adults.
See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

The Lone Star State and the Tutor System

The fiscal year of 2012 will be one of greater assistance to Texans that have had a brain or spinal cord injury according to an announcement made in February 2012. An $8.6 million grant was given to the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services.The additional funding will be able to serve more Texans than previously estimated especially those that need intensive therapies to help them live independently in their communities.
It is hoped that the department will utilize some of these additional funds to purchase state of the art rehabilitative equipment such as the TUTOR system. These recently developed devices are already in use in leading U.S. and European hospitals and clinics. The TUTOR system is comprised of the HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR. The system is used for physical rehabilitation for those who have suffered brain or spinal cord injury, stroke, CP, MS, upper or lower extremity limb surgeries and other disabling illnesses.
The TUTORs consist of gloves or braces that are placed strategically on the patient’s body and then connected to dedicated software where the patient can use his own power to accomplish challenging tasks. The TUTOR’s software has a series of games with which the patient will be able to accomplish a specific task causing intensive exercises to be mastered. The games allow physical and occupational therapists (PT) (OT) to customize the right exercise parameters to the patient’s movement ability and report on the patient’s exercise progress.
The system is available at home for patients who no longer need hospitatlization or who can’t get to a clinic. This is accomplished through the use of telerehabilitation. The TUTORs are available for children as well as adults and are FDA and CE approved.
See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

The Tutor System as a Long Term Rehabilitation Device

In an article written by D. Shaun Gray of the University of Alberta, Canada he states that the severely traumatic brain injured patient may have a prolonged recovery. Therefore because of this disadvantage the TBI patient may not be a candidate for typical rehabilitation programs. Further research shows that indeed these kinds of patients are capable of significant improvement but over a period of months to years. Further it shows that rehabilitation reduces long term costs of care. Obviously further research is needed to discover the effectiveness of current programs that specialize in these kind of rehabilitation programs.
The TUTOR system is one of the best tools in physical rehabilitation recovery to allow for a paced improvement and is one of the most cost effective medical devices to have been created recently. The TUTORs (HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR) are gloves or braces that are placed strategically on various parts of the body and through the use of dedicated software allow the TBI patient to receive intensive exercises that are customized to his particular level of capability. A physical therapist (PT) or Occupational therapist (OT) assists the patient to initiate and monitor the program that the patient himself is challenged with. The pace of exercise can be flexible to suit the capabilities of the patient.
Currently in use in leading hospitals and clinics throughout the U.S. and Europe the TUTORs are capable of being used at home when the patient recovers sufficiently through telerehabilitation. The TUTORS are certified by the FDA and CE.
See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

How the Tutor System Ensures Balance in Parkinson’s Patients

Fuzhong Li, Ph.D.at al conducted a study to see if Tai-Chi would be helpful in treating balance problems of Parkinson’s patients. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 9, 2012.
It’s known that patients with Parkinson’s disease have impaired balance which leads to diminished functional ability and can increase the risk of falling. Exercise is routinely encouraged by health care providers but few programs have been proven effective. The TUTOR system is one that has had many successes.
In the study, 195 patients were given Tai chi, resistance training, or stretching exercises. The patients participated in 60-minute exercise sessions twice weekly for 24 weeks.
The Tai chi group performed consistently better than the resistance-training and stretching groups The Tai chi group also performed better than the stretching group in all secondary outcomes and outperformed the resistance-training group in stride length and functional reach. Tai chi lowered the incidence of falls as compared with stretching but not as compared with resistance training. The effects of Tai chi training were maintained at 3 months after the intervention. No serious adverse events were observed.
The conclusions drawn were that Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease, with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls. The TUTOR system in addition to Tai Chi training can also achieve improvement in therapy training for Parkinson’s patients.
The newly developed HANDTUTOR and its sister devices (ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, 3DTUTOR) have become a key system in neuromuscular rehabilitation for stroke victims and those recovering from Parkinson’s, brain and spinal injuries, MS, CP and other limb movement limitations. These innovative devices implement an impairment based program with augmented motion feedback that encourages motor learning through intensive active exercises and movement practice.
The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR consist of wearable glove and braces that detect limb movement showing the patient how much active or assisted active movement he is actually doing. The rehabilitation software uses special rehabilitation games to set a new target for this movement in terms of the patient’s ability to move his limb. The devices then measure the limb movement and give feedback on the success in trying to gain this new movement objective. In this way the patient is given movement feedback that allows him to understand which effort is more successful in moving his affected limb again. The TUTOR system provides exercises that are challenging and motivating and allow for repetitive and intensive exercise practice.
The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, 3DTUTOR are now part of the rehabilitation program of leading U.S. German, Italian, French, UK and other foreign hospitals. See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

The Tutor System as a Great Motivator for Recovering Patients

Sarah O. Schuck, BA, OTS, Amy Whetstone, BSW, OTS etal of the Department of Occupational Therapy, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio and the
School of Allied Medical Professions, Neuromotor Recovery and Rehabilitation Laboratory, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio conducted a study that proved that motivation to recover is a very powerful incentive to excel in rehabilitation therapy after a stroke or for patients with Cerebral Palsy.
The TUTOR system’s dedicated and customized software contains a series of challenging games that encourage and motivate the patient to accomplish the tasks created. The TUTORS (HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR) are designed to give the recovering patient intensive exercise programs that will enhance the recovery of his affected limb’s movement.
The TUTOR systems allow the physical and occupational therapist to report on and evaluate the patient’s functional rehabilitation progress. This allows the OT and PT to prescribe the correct customized and motivating intensive exercise practice to the manual rehabilitation therapy.
In the study the participants experienced increased quality of life, a greater propensity to use their affected arm, hand or leg and enhanced task performance without exhibiting motor changes. This is a goal that the TUTORS aim to achieve.
The Tutors are now available at leading U.S. and European hospitals and clinics. They are designed for use by children as well as adults. The TUTORS are certified by the FDA and CE and can be used through telerehabilitation in the patient’s home.
See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.

CIMT–A Method That Has Success With the Tutor System

In a study about how Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) is effective with Duration of Adherence among Stroke Survivors with Hemiparesis, Olumide Olasunkanmi Dada and Arinola Olasumbo Sanya of the Department of Physiotherapy, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria discuss their recent study.
The two components of CIMT are the training of the more-impaired arm to perform functional tasks, and the restraint of the less-impaired arm. One of the challenges was that the application of CIMT must assure adherence to the use of the restraint.
A need was established to determine any factors that may influence adherence to CIMT, as this would allow it to be delivered more effectively, and thereby prevent situations where unrealistic expectations are placed on those individuals that are affected by a stroke.
Thirty stroke survivors with hemiparesis were recruited from physiotherapy out-patient clinics. Records were kept during the period they wore the restraint. The information logged was motor function and functional use of the upper limb.
The results showed the influence of socio-economic status. Participants of middle socio-economic status adhered for a longer duration. Age had weak and no significant correlation.
The conclusion drawn was that socio-economic status should be considered when applying CIMT.
The HANDTUTOR specifically has been an effective device to be used together with CIMT. It, together with its sister devices (ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR, 3DTUTOR), aims to increase the amount of use and quality of movement of the weaker arm or limb by following a structured treatment program.
The treatment program works by producing ‘rewiring’ of the brain; this means that a larger part of the brain becomes active when producing movement of the weaker arm. This program is underpinned by several research studies which have proven benefits, particularly for stroke patients and CP patients.
The program involves a number of components, in particular the use of repetitive training practice or repetitive impairment practice. This involves the child or adult doing intensive customized repetitive isolated exercises with the weaker arm arm using the ARMTUTOR and hand using the HANDTUTOR. The exercise practice was customized by the physical and occupational therapist to the patient’s movement ability. The dedicated rehabilitation software provides information on the patient’s performance and corrects the patient in the form of biofeedback when they are not doing the movement correctly. This means that the training practice is customized to the patient’s movement ability regarding their functional ability. The patient can also begin to understand how his limbs are moving as the biofeedback is amplified for movement feedback. Together with a score on how well the patient is performing allows the patient and PT to better understand the intensive and motivating exercise practice. Research has proven that such intensive and repetitive use of the weaker arm over this short period leads to increased use of the weaker arm as well as improved quality of movement. The TUTORS have been used effectively together during CIMT training and therapy and most recently at the Rusk rehabilitation hospital children’s summer camp. The TUTORS are designed to be used by children as well as adults..
The TUTORS are currently being used in leading hospitals and clinics in the U.S. and Europe and are fully certified by the FDA and CE. See WWW.HANDTUTOR.COM for more information.