Action Research Arm Test with Multisensory Information

Abstract

The Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) is a widely tool used by physical therapists to evaluate the performance of the upper extremities in people who have suffered a stroke, brain injury or multiple sclerosis. The ARAT consists of 19 items grouped into four subtests: grasp, grip, pinch, and gross movement. Nevertheless, it’s a subjective test because the score its only based on the interpretation of the therapist who performs it. Therefore, in this work the integration of a Multi-sensory System to the ARAT test is presented. The System developed consists in: an application developed in the software Unity® and in two sensors (an instrumental Glove with bend sensors (CyberGlove II®) and five force sensing resistors (FSR)). The application records the Human Hand Motion data at the moment of realizing the ARAT in real-time (joint angles and fingertip forces) and the data its stored in a database. The application also includes a hand simulation for monitoring purposes. An experimental study was carried out with ten healthy volunteers. Inclusion criteria: over eighteen years old, right-handed, without any injury in their hands, collaborative patients. With the aim of testing and evaluating the performance of the proposed system. The results presented in this paper corresponds at the subtest Grasp and analyze the correlation between fingertip force and the flexion angle of each joint. The proposed system allows therapists and health care professionals a more objective and accurate evaluation. It also serves as the basis for future projects and applications of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) about hand rehabilitation due to the compatibility of the Unity ®.

Keywords: ARAT, FRS, Virtual Hand

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1001905