Wearable sleeve could improve stroke recovery therapy
Researchers say that the technology might even lower the costs of physical therapy.
When it comes to tools that help stroke victims on their way to recovery, we've seen exoskeletons of sorts to medicine covered clot-busting nanoparticles. But researchers from the University of South Hampton and Imperial College London have something altogether different cooked up: a wireless sleeve that gathers information of how a patient's muscles react during home therapy. As the school tells it, this sleeve, dubbed M-Mark, is the first to bring mechanomyogrpahy sensors (essentially ultra-sensitive microphones that measure muscle contraction) together with tri-axial accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers.
What that means in English is the sleeve is detecting the various inputs and information and using the data to show a patient how much he or she has improved since the beginning of therapy. That info will go to a tablet app that will also give doctors a better look at what's going on in the patient's environment and recovery regimen. It's a bit like Apple's Healthkit.
Lead researcher Jane Burridge says that the sleeve and app could decrease the amount of time spent with therapists and still ensure a stroke victim gets their 45 minutes of therapy in daily. Perhaps even better? It may bring costs down too -- something sorely needed in the healthcare field.
