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. 2019 Apr;39(2):81-89.
doi: 10.1177/1539449219829862. Epub 2019 Mar 2.

Upper Extremity Function Assessment Using a Glove Orthosis and Virtual Reality System

Richard J Adams  1 , Allison L Ellington  2 , Kate Armstead  3 , Kristen Sheffield  3 , James T Patrie  4 , Paul T Diamond  4
Affiliations

Upper Extremity Function Assessment Using a Glove Orthosis and Virtual Reality System

Richard J Adams et al. OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Hand motor control deficits following stroke can diminish the ability of patients to participate in daily activities. This study investigated the criterion validity of upper extremity (UE) performance measures automatically derived from sensor data during manual practice of simulated instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) within a virtual environment. A commercial glove orthosis was specially instrumented with motion tracking sensors to enable patients to interact, through functional UE movements, with a computer-generated virtual world using the SaeboVR software system. Fifteen stroke patients completed four virtual IADL practice sessions, as well as a battery of gold-standard assessments of UE motor and hand function. Statistical analysis using the nonparametric Spearman rank correlation reveals high and significant correlation between virtual world-derived measures and the gold-standard assessments. The results provide evidence that performance measures generated during manual interactions with a virtual environment can provide a valid indicator of UE motor status.

Keywords: activities of daily living; instrumental activities of daily living; occupational therapy; rehabilitation; virtual reality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Richard Adams, PhD, is a salaried employee of Barron Associates, Inc., which is a for-profit company and the grantee of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), which sponsored this research. Barron Associates, Inc. is the owner of intellectual property involved in this research. Allison L. Ellington was paid by Barron Associates, Inc. as a consultant to support this study with funding from the NICHD grant.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
SaeboGlove orthosis with sensors to track grasp interactions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Virtual Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) tasks involving reaching for and grasping an object.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Bivariate relationships between VR-SCT and WMFT-TIME. Note. SCT = subtask completion time; WMFT = Wolf Motor Function Test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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