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INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 69 October/November 2009 £6.95
Jacket ‘could speed stroke recovery’ By Dominic Musgrave SCIENTISTS at Bournemouth University are developing a high-tech jacket that they hope could speed up recovery after a stroke. The jacket is designed to help patients left partly paralysed in one arm as a result of a clot or bleeding in the brain. Dr Venky Dubey, associate professor of design engineering at the university, told Assistive Technologies that the beauty of the jacket is that it is cheap, portable and simple to build. He added: “The work is very much experimental at this stage, and we have been working on this for quite a long time because we realise that most of the robotic systems used for rehab are bulky and only work with assistance at specialist centres. “The aim of the project is to design something portable like a jacket which would be much more useful for people suffering from a stroke.” Sewn into the jacket is an exo-skeleton device, a system of miniature motors and cables that fit snugly next to the damaged limb. When the patient tries to use their arm for everyday tasks, such as answering
the phone or picking up a cup of tea, tiny sensors inside the exo-skeleton detect what type of movement is being attempted. These then send a signal to three motors on the shoulder, upper arm and forearm, which tighten or release the cables according to how the patient needs to move. This exaggerates the movement. So far the scientists have been concentrating on perfecting the method in the laboratory, using motors too bulky to put inside clothes. But Venky added that they now plan to adapt it using much smaller equipment that can easily be stored inside clothing. He said “We want to make the arm look as natural as possible, and the tests we have done in the laboratory using larger motors have all been very positive. “We want to make the arm so that it can be customised for all different user groups, and to do this we will need to spend some time refining the designs. 'We hope to have it on the market in the next three years, but are at the stage now where we need to make it more viable, and to do this we need more funding to take this forward.”
Scientists at the University of Salford’s school of podiatry have developed an insole that may help prevent the metatarsal injuries that plague many footballers including Wayne Rooney. The team designed the Foot Science Insole so that it provides extra support for the mid-foot section of the football boot and helps protect the shaft of the metatarsals. It is already in use at several Premiership and Championship clubs. For more turn to page 20