Dexterous haptic interaction for functional rehabilitation and assessment of the upper limb

Dexterous hand and arm function are crucial for execution of activities of daily living (ADLs). However, it remains difficult for patients with neurological deficits, such as stroke, to recover the lost function. In this paper, a versatile haptic interface, omega. 7, has been employed to interact with the patient to perform designed dexterous manipulation tasks. Following the neurocognitive approach, a functional rehabilitation training and assessment paradigm involving dexterous manipulation tasks, multi-modal sensory feedback as well as neurocognitive challenges has been designed and implemented on omega. 7. With this approach, motor, sensory and cognitive processes involved in dexterous arm movements are closed in one loop and trained all together. The paradigm has been successfully tested with six healthy subjects with good feasibility and acceptance responses. Cognitive challenges encourage patients´ active mental and physical participation, resulting in a highly motivating therapy. Initial data analysis has shown promising potentials of integrating haptics for intensive sensorimotor therapy of dexterous function of the upper limb.