Untethered Home Therapy System

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The objective is to design, build, and clinically assess an Untethered Home Therapy System (UHTS). The research will focus on functional motor recovery in the upper extremity of stroke patients, There has currently been tremendous growth and research into motor relearning after stroke. Carefully directed, repetitive practice of skills is essential to improving recovery. The UHTS should aid in improving the time course and amount of functional recovery from upper extremity motor deficits. This unique system will employ armbands containing dry surface EMG electrodes and a small radio transmitter to transmit EMG to a nearby laptop computer. Software will instruct the patient through a series of prerecorded movies while monitoring EMG. Tasks will include a variety of arm movements, grasp force tracking, EMG tracking, and grasp strength. By monitoring EMG, the software will discriminate tasks, monitor compliance, and provide real-time user feedback. During Phase I we will design, build, and clinically evaluate the feasibility of recording upper extremity EMG with the armband telemetry system, develop algorithms for task discrimination, and a develop a prototype of the user interface software. The prototype UHTS will be clinically evaluated on five stroke subjects to ensure task discrimination, effective subject feedback, and clinical efficacy.