ASET Technology Alberta Fall 2022 - 14

REHABILITATION
TODAY,
AUGMENTATION
TOMORROW
 BY TIM RAUF
David Reinkensmeyer has spent a lot of time examining the
developments and trends in the sphere of rehabilitation technology
(and increasingly, augmentation). Reinkensmeyer is
the editor-in-chief of the Journal of NeuroEngineering and
Rehabilitation (JNER), where researchers and clinicians share
advances in neuroscience and biomedical engineering.
In a recent paper examining the progression of content within
JNER over the last 15 years, Reinkensmeyer highlights the directions
in neuroengineering and rehabilitation. He notes that
over time wearables in particular have gained ground in the
research literature.
" The current state of the field is
characterized by increased use of
artificial intelligence, generation of
big data, and experimentation with
adjuvant therapies. We are squarely in
the age of wearability, and wearable
devices for rehabilitation are
spinning out to applications in human
augmentation, " Reinkensmeyer
writes. All of these wearables when
combined with sensors can provide
metrics previously unknown to
clinical/health practitioners.
14 | FALL 2022 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA
Rehabilitation therapy is a
field with ancient roots. Up until
the last century, though,
relatively few technological
shakeups had struck. In the
last few years, momentum
that began decades ago has
snowballed into something truly
remarkable, with potential
to revolutionize how humans
are healed - and to augment us
past our inborn abilities
and knowledge.
Unveiling those metrics was one of the goals of Yuxin Tong
and her team, in their recent Virginia Tech project centred on
creating a low-cost 3D-printed customized prosthetic. They
got the idea to create a 3D-printed prosthetic device to help
those with amniotic band syndrome (where hands or feet
form improperly in the womb) in need of a highly customized
prosthesis.
" What we are trying to do is conformally track the curvature
of the substrate, which could be an organ or body segment,
and directly print a curved line or curved surfaces using extrusion,
[a technique of] 3D printing, " Tong says. " In that case,
we can fabricate more flexible sensors that could track the
surface curvature of a substrate, which could be organ or
body segments. "
This approach allows for the integration of more sensors into
curved surfaces of a prosthetic, such as the inner surface of
a prosthetic hand.
In normal, non-personalized prosthetic components, it can
be difficult to place sensors in effective areas. As the user
moves the area the prosthetic is attached to, the sensor
might interact with a different contact area from one movement
to the next. Without a consistent contact area for the
sensors to touch, it's harder for researchers and clinicians to
pick up any useful information.
" It would be ideal that the prosthetic's properties or shapes
can keep changing with the users according to how the force
is redistributed, " Tong says.

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/history-physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-and-its-ethical-dimensions/2015-06 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0214120#sec023

ASET Technology Alberta Fall 2022

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