We've seen a variety of methods used to help stroke patients regain motion and motor functions, but we can't think of anything more exciting than playing video games as a critical part of your rehabilitation. Turns out, a number of physical therapists around the country are actually allowing patients to relearn balance and movement skills by playing the Wii, which as you know, it already quite the hit with the geriatric set. Furthermore, injured soldiers in Landstuhl, Germany are also "regaining their strength by playing virtual games on the Wii," and there's even suggestions out to conduct a research study that looks at the effectiveness of using Nintendo's latest console as a rehab tool. Hit the read link for the video report.

[Thanks, Pat D.]

While we've got robotic assistants that give aid to our ankles, arms, upper bodies, muscles, and legs (just to name a few), researchers at the University of California, Irvine are offering up yet another solution to assist stroke victims regain functionality in their hands. Sure, the Cyberhand and modified P5 glove have already been down this road before, but UCI's Hand-Wrist Assisting Robotic Device (cleverly-dubbed HOWARD) is a purely medical device that was constructed to "help people regain strength and normal use of affected hands long after a stroke." Considering that the first three months after a stroke are when the most "spontaneous improvement" occurs, the device is set into a lineup of scheduled therapy sessions which help victims regain motion, feeling, and grasping abilities of their hands. Additionally, HOWARD requires patients to move at least one-tenth of an inch before the assisting kicks in, which purportedly helps them "remember the feeling" of making motions on their own. Currently, 13 participants have been through HOWARD therapy, and all of them saw 10 to 20-percent improvements in various grasping tests, and while we've no idea when these contraptions will sneak into hospital wards, the team is already hard at work developing a smaller sibling with a bit more software options than the existing rendition.

[Via Slashdot]

If tossing on a HAL cyborg suit and ascending a mountain seems a bit intimidating to you, Japanese firms Matsushita (producer of Panasonic) and Activelink have partnered with Kobe Gakuin University to develop a robotic jacket that helps rehabilitate paralyzed individuals with slightly less "lofty" goals. The vest, which slips over an individual's upper body and arms (no leg support just yet), allows the person to move their unaffected arm as they please, while it mimics the muscles in the paralyzed area(s) to help the patient recall the feelings of maneuvering that limb. By teaching the person to take over for the motorized "stretching and bending compressors" within the device, the 1.8-pound suit can gradually help someone to regain stimulation in a previously motionless area of their upper body. Activelink reportedly plans to "start testing" the unit at a Hyogo hospital soon, and make it commercially available by March 2009. The only kicker is the price -- at ¥2,000,000 ($17,159), customers best ensure their insurance plan is mighty stout before suiting up in this.

Researchers at Rutgers University don't seem to have lost any of their homebrew skills, taking an Xbox and an Essential Reality P5 gaming glove to create a low-cost alternative to traditional virtual reality rehabilitation systems -- systems which can cost up to ten times as much. This project uses some custom-made software to deliver exercises designed to help stroke patients regain hand movement, with one "game" consisting of wiping "dirty pixels" off four vertical bars, while another asks the patient to make a fist fast enough to scare a butterfly off the screen. Of course, the system isn't quite up to snuff with the more expensive options -- it has poorer accuracy and no force feedback, for instance -- but the researchers say it could still be a boon to clinics that can't afford the pricier gear and could even potentially be further modified to allow for home-care with monitoring via an Internet connection.

[Via BoingBoing]