Rehabilitative equipment for home use

Hello Everyone

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

dear calistair,

extremely happy to know about yourself and your interest towards designing something unique to aid rehabilitation.

well, going through the spectrum listed by you - "broken/sprained ankles or broken femurs or hip-replacements" I wish you work on a model to aid rehab of the ankle/foot.

ankle/foot is one area that I have not been able to work on to my utmost satisfaction. I agree one can use therabands, wobble boards, manual resistance so on & so forth, yet a device designed to strengthen the ankle/foot musculature in a more specific manner would indeed be a welcome move.

well this is just my personal opinion. on the other hand if you need any help or further inputs please feel free to contact me. I will be more than happy to share my technical expertise.

cheers,

thomas

Originally Posted by calistair 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? Aside from the main question at hand, I personally don't think this is very much possible. Trained athletes have personal one on one coaching to elicit the greatest adaptations from high intensity training. Inexperienced exercisers like the general population have poor coordination, muscle recruitment problems, muscular imbalances, patterning, deficits, and as above you mentioned, and all need to be consider when prescribing exercise. Rather than sending people home for exercise alone, we should look at how we can make group exercise more effective or other modalities concomitantly. 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. What the statistics showing us right now? What is the main issue at hand, are you looking at acute injuries. In that case it is likely still fractures and contusions, and post surgery recovery that should be the main area of interest

Sorry if not a great deal of help, but hopefully will continue discussion

Thanks for the replies guys.
Much appreciated.

Thomas, thanks for the advice. I think that the ankle/foot is a good place to focus on as I understand that it is one of the most common areas of injury. I know that the rehabilitation and strengthening of this area is important because it helps lessen the risk of reinjury and so forth. I have drawn up a quick concept that might work and have attached it to this post (Concept 2 copy). I would appreciate your thoughts on what you think about it. I'm not sure if the way it works will cause too much pain to the foot if it is strapped in like that but if it doesn't, I think it could work the patient’s foot in multiple directions and strengthen it accordingly.

Canuck, I am trying to focus on the people that can not physically make it to the required amount of physio-sessions because of their injury or for people that can’t afford to go to or receive home treatment. I thought that one physio session a week or every fortnight would be good for the physiotherapist to analyze the improvements and go on to prescribe the next set of exercises. I know the risks involved with patients that are inexperienced with exercise and I would like to cater for it in my design and try to avoid these problems. I also understand that group exercise is good as it motivates the patients and can make them more enthusiastic about their rehabilitation. Maybe something to do with group exercise out patients could be improved.

I have developed a concept for those patients that are bedridden and find it difficult to move around. It is also attached to this post (Concept 1 copy). The shape of this concept allows it to be used in any size bed and caters for various groups of exercises and positions. One thing that I worry about is the structural integrity of the shape, but I think this could be overcome with some clever design solutions. Please give me your feedback on what you think or what improvements could be made.

Thanks
Calistair