Evaluation of Motion Controlled Arm Support

A. Bergsma, L. A. van der Heide, J. M. N. Essers, A. Murgia, D. van der Pijl, E. C. Cup, G. J. Gelderblom, P. H. Verstegen, I. J. M. de Groot, K. Meijer

2013

Abstract

Many attempts have been made to help people with upper extremity limitations in daily life by means of dynamic arm supports. The effect of support on human arm movements needs to be investigated to understand how support can be optimized. The effect of gravitational pull of arm support systems with braces has been studied, it is however still unclear how joint moments are affected in people suffering from for example neuromuscular diseases and how people perform with an arm support in a daily life situation. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of arm support systems on the arm function and use in daily life. This was realized by studying the effect of an available support system on the arm function at various levels of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). A test battery has been developed that combines questionnaires and ordinal clinical scales, with quantitative measures such as 3D motion analysis and EMG to provide a more complete picture of the compensatory movement patterns used by patients with proximal muscle weakness of the upper extremities in patients with neuromuscular disorders. Moreover, biomechanical models and inverse dynamic software were used to calculate the shoulder and elbow joint moments in different conditions. These measures were used to investigate movement capacities of people with various neuromuscular disorders. To evaluate the performance in daily life, an measurement protocol has been developed to measure how people use the arms and the arm support during daily activities. The current study presents some preliminary results of initial evaluation measures. The goals of these evaluations are multiple: to see if design goals and specifications are met, to gain first outcomes on usage and usability of the new device, and compare functionality with high- end existing devices of this class. The availability of such a set will be applicable for evaluation of support systems.

References

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Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Bergsma A., van der Heide L., M. N. Essers J., Murgia A., van der Pijl D., C. Cup E., J. Gelderblom G., H. Verstegen P., J. M. de Groot I. and Meijer K. (2013). Evaluation of Motion Controlled Arm Support . In - RoboAssist, (NEUROTECHNIX 2013) ISBN , pages 0-0


in Bibtex Style

@conference{roboassist13,
author={A. Bergsma and L. A. van der Heide and J. M. N. Essers and A. Murgia and D. van der Pijl and E. C. Cup and G. J. Gelderblom and P. H. Verstegen and I. J. M. de Groot and K. Meijer},
title={Evaluation of Motion Controlled Arm Support},
booktitle={ - RoboAssist, (NEUROTECHNIX 2013)},
year={2013},
pages={},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={},
isbn={},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - - RoboAssist, (NEUROTECHNIX 2013)
TI - Evaluation of Motion Controlled Arm Support
SN -
AU - Bergsma A.
AU - van der Heide L.
AU - M. N. Essers J.
AU - Murgia A.
AU - van der Pijl D.
AU - C. Cup E.
AU - J. Gelderblom G.
AU - H. Verstegen P.
AU - J. M. de Groot I.
AU - Meijer K.
PY - 2013
SP - 0
EP - 0
DO -