Tactile Display of Reproducing Friction Vibration induced by Contracture Palpation

Abstract

We aim to quantify the contracture palpation conducted by physical therapists based on frictional vibration generated during the palpation. A wearable skin vibration sensor that is wrapped around the finger of a therapist is used for detecting the frictional vibration. The sensor detects skin vibration; thus, its output reflects the state of the contracture, but also is influenced by therapist’s skin properties. In particular, skin properties might largely influence the sensor output as they differ among individuals. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the influence of finger properties toward the compensation of the results. However, the same frictional vibration does not occur during each palpation. In this paper, we propose a tactile display to reproduce the frictional vibration collected to investigate the compensation method. We compared three types of vibrators. Experimental results showed that the vibro transducer was relatively suitable from aspects of accurate reproduction, compact setup, and cost.