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Shoulder assessment methodology, clinical studies and SOFI rehabilitation exoskeleton

Abstract:

A measurement system has been designed in order to assess the effectiveness of therapy intervention in patients with shoulder disorders. Several upper limb movements were tested in the hospital so as to find the most suitable (fast, user-friendly and informing) solution to evaluate the effectiveness of the therapy. As a consequence of the clinical study, a robotic exoskeleton development was conducted to perform the set of “exercises” applied to the patients by therapists, taking into account the experience acquired and the particular needs of each patient. SOFI, a robotic exoskeleton for shoulder rehabilitation, was designed by using the lessons learned during the clinical studies at Hospital Universitario Infanta Sofía. This robot is an economic solution and adaptable to each patient: type of disease, status of progress, patient pain tolerance, and specific circumstances of each patient. This work presents a methodology to evaluate patient's upper-limb mobility, the results obtained in the clinical study and their implementation so as to develop SOFI robot in a human-oriented design.