Development of an assist suit for upper limb rehabilitation

Abstract

Hemiplegic patients caused by stroke perform rehabilitation training for activities of daily living during recovery period. In this study, a motor-driven new assist suit for shoulder joint which assists bending and extending motions of the shoulder joint was developed to assist horizontal reach movements for the rehabilitation training. In order to evaluate the developed assist suit for shoulder joint, healthy subjects simulated hemiplegic state by fixing their elbow and waist using the rubber belt. Then, evaluation experiments were carried out under the conditions of the subjects wearing and non-wearing the assist suit. Bending angle of the shoulder joint and surface electromyogram of the deltoid were measured, and by wearing the assist suit, assistance for the bending motion of the shoulder joint was confirmed. Therefore, it is considered that the developed assist suit is effective for those who are difficult to bend their shoulder joint.