Mathematical modeling of orthosis for hand movement with loss of strength

• Autor(a) principal: Venturim, William Molina
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/19763
• topic: Orthotic devices; Hand debility; Mechanics; Mathematical modeling; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática

Several factors that can lead to a loss or decrease of an individual’s motor and/or coordination abilities, such as spinal cord injury caused by an accident, a Cerebral Vascular Accident, Cerebral Palsy, and others alike. Since the hand is one of the members that most affect patient’s independence and quality of life, this study focus on the development of a solution for the condition of lost of motor skills in the hands, specifically, in the realization of the pinch movement. The solution proposed is the development a model of mechanical orthosis capable of assisting the basic movement of opposition between the index finger an the thumb (forceps), allowing the patient to perform daily actions that involve picking or lifting an object, as well as perform the writing movement, while keeping a low level of assembly complexity and cost of production. The development of the model began by identifying the needs of the patients considered, the formulation of a methodology for obtaining the optimal geometry for the mechanism components, and realizing preliminary and functional tests to verify the proposed ideas.By the end, we have a functional model of mechanical orthosis, that validates the methodology elaborated.