Development of Wrist Rehabilitation Device Using Extension Type Flexible Pneumatic Actuators with Simple 3D Coordinate Measuring System

Rehabilitation devices have been developed to assist patients recover from physical disabilities by using specific devices to do an exercise, training and therapy. The purpose of this study is to develop a home-based rehabilitation device which is safe to use and without requirement of person-in-charge. In this study, a simple home-based wrist rehabilitation device which can give passive exercise on spherical orbit while patients hold its handles is proposed and tested. The device has two moving handling stage driven by 6 extension type flexible pneumatic actuators (“EFPA” for short) on two hemispherical acrylic domes. The device can give passive exercise for the upper limb by changing the relative position of the patient’s hands. In this paper, the construction and operating principle of the tested device are described. A low-cost 3-dimentional coordinate measuring system using two wire-type linear potentiometers to control the position of the holding stages is also described. In addition, the tracking position control of the holding handles on sphere is carried out. As a result, it can be found that the handling stage of the tested device can trace the desired orbit based on the coordinates measured from 3-dimentional coordinate measuring system. It can be confirmed that the tested wrist rehabilitation device has a possibility to apply passive movements to the wrist along desired orbit while patients hold its handles.

Frequency-Domain Characteristics Response to Passive Exercise in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Purpose: The enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP), a kind of passive exercise, is a novel non-invasive therapy used to improve peripheral perfusion in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, whether frequency-domain characteristics of peripheral hemodynamics may benefit from passive exercise needs to be verified.Methods: We recruited 21 patients with CAD and 21 healthy controls in this study. Ultrasonic blood flow velocity spectrum in left carotid (LC) and right carotid (RC) common arteries, and right brachial (RB) and right femoral (RF) arteries was monitored using an ultrasonic Doppler. Frequency-domain characteristics before, during, and after passive exercise were extracted from ultrasonic spectrum images. The first and second peak amplitudes/frequencies (y1, y2, x1, x2) and power spectral energy ratio (PSER) in the 0–2.05 Hz/0.87 Hz (p5, p6) were calculated by fast Fourier transform and power spectrum density analysis.Results: For the amplitude and frequency characteristics of the spectrum, y1 in the LC of patients with CAD was significantly decreased during exercise (p = 0.036), whereas, y2 was significantly decreased immediately after passive exercise (p = 0.038). Besides those, y1 only in the RC and RB of controls was significantly decreased during exercise. Immediately after exercise, y2 in the LC of control was significantly lower than at the baseline (p = 0.014). For the energy ratio characteristics of the spectrum, there was an opposite response in the two groups that p6 was significantly reduced and elevated in the LC of controls and in the RB of patients with CAD during exercise (both p < 0.05).Conclusions: Passive exercise reduces amplitude and frequency characteristics of carotid arteries, while there was an opposite response of energy ratio characteristics in the LC and RB arteries to passive exercise between CAD patients and controls. Additionally, energy ratio characteristics of spectrum in the brachial artery were markedly elevated in CAD patients during passive exercise. Moreover, passive exercise only reduces amplitude characteristics of LC artery in the control group.

Development of Reinforced Extension Type Flexible Pneumatic Actuator with Circumferential Restraints and Its Application for Rehabilitation Device

Based on super-aging society in Japan, a welfare pneumatic device to give passive exercise for the temporally injured elderly and disabled has been actively researched and developed. In previous study, based on opinions of Physical Therapist (PT) and Occupational Therapist (OT), a home-based rehabilitation device that could give passive exercise for patients using extension type flexible pneumatic actuators (EFPA), built-in quasi-servo valves and built-in displacement sensors using a wire type linear potentiometer was proposed and tested. However, the device did not have enough force and stiffness to drive shoulders with both arms. In this study, to get enough generated force and stiffness of the device, a parallel arranged EFPA reinforced with circumferential restraint was proposed and tested. The rehabilitation device for shoulder joint using the improved actuator was also proposed and tested. The built-in attitude control system using valves, sensors and an embedded controller was also developed. As a result, it can be confirmed that the device can give passive exercise with larger moving area and enough force and torque to move patient’s shoulder joint.

Design of a 4-DOF grounded exoskeletal robot for shoulder and elbow rehabilitation

The number of cerebrovascular and neuromuscular diseases is increasing in parallel with the rising average age of the world’s population. Since the shoulder anatomy is complex, the number of rehabilitation robots for shoulder movements is limited. This paper presents the mechanical design, control, and testing of a 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) grounded upper limb exoskeletal robot. It is capable of four different therapeutic exercises (passive, active assistive, isotonic and isometric). During the mechanical design, the forces to be exposed to the robot were determined and after the design, the system was tested with strength analysis. Also, a low-cost electromyograph device was developed and integrated into the system to measure muscular activation for feedback and instantaneously muscle activation control for the physiotherapist during the therapy. The system can be used for rehabilitation on the shoulder and elbow. A PID controller for position-controlled exercises were developed. The test results were presented in terms of simulation and the real system for passive exercise. According to the test results, the developed system can perform passive exercise and can be used for other therapeutic exercises as well.

INFLUENCE OF AGE PECULIARITIES AND TECHNOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE CATTLE ON THE DISSEMINATION OF DEMODECOSIS INVASION

Cattle demodecosis in the Russian Federation is ubiquitous. As a result of studies in the period from 2002–2018 in the Tyumen region it was established that this region is no exception for the spread of demodectic invasion among cattle. Our studies have shown that age-related reactivity and technological decisions in keeping animals have an effect on the extent of the invasion of demodecosis. So, in the conditions of the Tyumen region, cattle are affected by demodecosis at the age of one year in – 4.72±0.05% of cases, from one year to two years in – 10.73±1.01%, heifers and first-calf animals 2–3 years old in – 13.80±1.01%, cows older than 3 years in – 17.23±1.15%. With the year-round use of a stall keeping system with a passive exercise on walking grounds, the incidence of demodecosis in young animals under the age of one year is recorded at the level of 2.11–2.12%, in adult animals over the age of 3 years – 22.57–22.93%. With active exercise in animals aged one to three years, the incidence is recorded at the level of 8.93-18.05%.