New High-tech Computerized Rehab System

There is a computer-based system being developed right now by American medical scientists which is designed to help stroke patients in their physical rehabilitation. It is a two-year reserch effort which involves the Rice University robotics engineers and physicians from Houston’s Memorial Hospital and The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research.

O’Malley and Memorial Hermann-TIRR doctors developed a prototype that uses a joystick to help patients with eye-to-hand coordination. The system uses force-feedback technology that allows people to feel their environment while they are in virtual reality.

The computer can precisely measure how a patient responds to every single exercise, said O’Malley. This lets the doctors and physical therapists know exactly what their patient most needs to work on. This precise, measurable feedback provides a great advantage over the subjective evaluations currently in use.

Source: The Post Chronicle