Restoring natural upper limb movement through a wrist prosthetic module for partial hand amputees

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation

Research

Seoyoung Choi¹  Wonwoo Cho²  Keehoon Kim³ 

[1] Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea;Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea;Hyundai Rotem Company, Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea;Department of Mechanical Engineering, POSTECH, Pohang University of Science and Technology, 37673, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea;Institute for Convergence Research and Education in Advanced Technology, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, 03722, Seoul, Republic of Korea;

关键词: Partial hand amputation;    Wrist rotation;    Muscle synergy;    Double parallelogram mechanism;    Upper-limb movement;    NMF;    Motion analysis;    Hand function;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12984-023-01259-9

 received in 2023-06-01, accepted in 2023-09-21,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMost partial hand amputees experience limited wrist movement. The limited rotational wrist movement deteriorates natural upper limb system related to hand use and the usability of the prosthetic hand, which may cause secondary damage to the musculoskeletal system due to overuse of the upper limb affected by repetitive compensatory movement patterns. Nevertheless, partial hand prosthetics, in common, have only been proposed without rotational wrist movement because patients have various hand shapes, and a prosthetic hand should be attached to a narrow space.MethodsWe hypothesized that partial hand amputees, when using a prosthetic hand with a wrist rotation module, would achieve natural upper limb movement muscle synergy and motion analysis comparable to a control group. To validate the proposed prototype design with the wrist rotation module and verify our hypothesis, we compared a control group with partial hand amputees wearing hand prostheses, both with and without the wrist rotation module prototype. The study contained muscle synergy analysis through non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) using surface electromyography (sEMG) and motion analyses employing a motion capture system during the reach-to-grasp task. Additionally, we assessed the usability of the prototype design for partial hand amputees using the Jebsen-Taylor hand function test (JHFT).ResultsThe results showed that the number of muscle synergies identified through NMF remained consistent at 3 for both the control group and amputees using a hand prosthesis with a wrist rotation module. In the motion analysis, a statistically significant difference was observed between the control group and the prosthetic hand without the wrist rotation module, indicating the presence of compensatory movements when utilizing a prosthetic hand lacking this module. Furthermore, among the amputees, the JHFT demonstrated a greater improvement in total score when using the prosthetic hand equipped with a wrist rotation module compared to the prosthetic hand without this module.ConclusionIn conclusion, integrating a wrist rotation module in prosthetic hand designs for partial hand amputees restores natural upper limb movement patterns, reduces compensatory movements, and prevent the secondary musculoskeletal. This highlights the importance of this module in enhancing overall functionality and quality of life.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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