Quantitative Evaluation of Rehabilitation Therapy Based on a Two-Finger Force Measurement System

Abstract

This paper describes the evaluation of the effectiveness of rehabilitation therapy for patients with finger paralysis based on a two-finger force measurement system (TFFMS). The paralyzed fingers can be recovered through rehabilitation therapies. The finger pressing force of the patients can be measured utilizing the TFFMS previously developed by the author [7]. The TFFMS, however, has not been fully adopted as a standard method for evaluating the therapy owing to the lack of a standard protocol. The pressing force of healthy volunteers and patients is analyzed with the TFFMS to explore the feasibility of the TFFMS as an evaluation device. The test confirms that the established standard protocol is useful to quantitatively assess the progress of finger rehabilitation therapy.