Abstract:
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a common neural disease
among people with repetitive wrist movements. It affects
the sensation and movement of the thumb, index finger, middle
finger, and half of the ring finger. The syndrome can be treated
effectively through therapeutic exercises in the early stages of
diagnosis or through surgery in more severe cases. However, the
lack of physiotherapists poses a significant challenge in hospitals
where thorough observation is required. The proposed rehabilitation
robot focuses on wrist and finger exercises designed explicitly
for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and intended for clinical use. The
sensors detect the patient’s range of motion and display the
data for the therapist, who can then determine the appropriate
exercises. Finger exercises include flexion-extension, mimicking
grasping patterns, while wrist exercises include flexion-extension
and hyperextension. The rehabilitation program consists of
three stages and several iterations, progressing according to
the patient’s recovery, which can be observed through the data
collected from the sensors. The rehabilitation robot utilizes an
under-actuation method that drives proximal interphalangeal,
and distal interphalangeal joints of the four fingers using two
servo motors for finger rehabilitation. The thumb is actuated
using a separate servo motor. A stepper motor actuates wrist
movement. A mathematical model was developed to simulate the
movements of the linkage system, which is deployed in the sagittal
plane of the fingers. The effectiveness of the rehabilitation robot
has been verified through simulations and experiments.
