Rehabilitative home equipment

[calistair]

Hello Everyone

This is an addition to my previous post - Post-op home rehabilitation equipment. I know this seams like a lot of reading but please read on.

I'm a BTech Industrial/Product Design student from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa.
I am busy doing my second thesis at the moment. The aim of it is to design a piece of assistive exercise equipment that patients can use at home during their rehabilitation period after an injury or operation. The semi-focus of the thesis so far is on lower limbs, because it usually causes a high degree of immobility in patients and makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to make regular trips to the physiotherapist without the aid of somebody to help them. I want to make it more possible for somebody in this situation to be able to conduct rehabilitative exercises themselves at home so that they can attain a successful recovery. I understand the importance of physiotherapy, but some patients can not physically make it to two or three physio-sessions a week or can simply not afford it. Maybe one physio-session a week or every fortnight would be sufficient if the patient had the right equipment at home to perform the correct exercises?


I have done quite a lot of research so far and I know rehabilitative treatment is quite a tricky area because it differs from patient to patient and injury to injury. I need to establish a narrower focus. Either on broken/sprained ankles or broken femurs or hip-replacements for example. I am trying to find an area that has not been properly catered for or where an improvement could be made in regards to a specific type of injury or surgery. I know physiotherapists generally have their own slightly different preferences of what exercises to prescribe. I have come across many pieces of equipment through my research, such as resistance bands, wobble boards and physio-balls etc. and I would like to know what your opinion is on them and what problems, if any, are associated with them if possible.


I understand that there are a few main areas of exercise in rehab that need to be done in order to attain a full recovery. These include: stretching, resistance, endurance, proprioception, core and balance exercises. Maybe my design can just focus on one or two of these areas in particular. I also know that there are concerns amongst physiotherapist about prescribing exercises for patients to do at home. I want to address these problems in my design and make it as safe and intuitive for the patients to use as possible.


I would really appreciate it if anyone could perhaps give me some advice on what areas could be improved on that would give patients a better platform to conduct rehabilitative exercises at home. Or maybe some advise on websites I should look at or people I should speak to.


Thank you

Calistair