MALCOLM: IMPROVING PEDIATRIC CEREBRAL PALSY REHABILITATION THROUGH DIAGNOSTICS

摘要

Rice Helping Hands (RHH) is tasked with designing and developing a wrist rehabilitation device for pediatric patients with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). The design of the RHH device must accomplish the following: (1) Accurately measure wrist extensor contractile force (2) Allow isometric contractions only (3) Engage the patient in a visual game (4) Provide muscle strengthening rehabilitation and diagnosis/assessment (5) Be portable and movable by one individual (6) Adjustable for patients age 6-14 CP can significantly affect a child's limb function (Valvano 1998). Proper limb function is critical for performance in everyday tasks such as using eating utensils. Children with spastic CP have difficulty performing everyday tasks due to improper muscle balance, specifically an imbalance in flexor-extensor action (Wehbe 2011).