D5.3. DigiHand

D5.3. DigiHand: Home-Based Hand Exercise Program

Principal Investigator

Team Members: Ashwin Ashok, Ph.D., Peter Presti

Current interventions are specialized exercise therapies facilitated by a trained rehabilitation therapist through guided instruction and ongoing feedback on performance. However, once discharged from formal therapies, the individual relies on a written home program for instructions while not receiving any objective feedback which can negatively influence adherence to therapeutic activities. Building on prior work, we are designing and evaluating a digital hand rehabilitation system for people with long-term hand disabilities to provide instructions, monitor progress, and provide ongoing performance-based feedback. The DigiHand system utilizes a camera system combined with a SmartMug system that tracks hand movements in real-time to quantify hand movements and provide objective feedback. We aim to develop a smart home program that can engage users in self-managing their own rehabilitation, ultimately leading to better health outcomes as measured by greater gains in functional upper limb tasks.

Current Activities

  • Currently the team is analyzing the data gathered by the camera system and the SmartMug system from healthy individuals to identify typical movement thresholds. 

Project Alumni

  • Sarah Curtis, OTD, OTR/L
  • Bhagirath Tallapragada, MS
  • Chaitanyavishnu Gadde, MS