Joystick, a video game that strengthens hands after paralysis
London: After a stroke, the grip of the hands often becomes weak and medicine and physiotherapy are given to restore it. Now there is a video game and a special handle designed for it that restores the grip of the hands in the game play.
Experts at Imperial College London have created what they call ‘Gripable’. It is a training device that enhances hand and arm movements. In the case of a game in front, the app keeps running, according to which you have to hold the gripball in your hand and rotate it. For example, in a game, the harder the tool is pressed, the farther the arrow will go on the screen. In this way, the stages of the exercise continue to progress in the form of games and the patient’s condition improves.
The gripable gambling stick has to be pressed and released and the game is played with it. Sometimes the device is rotated right or left. This is how physiotherapy becomes a sport. Joystick also helps with proper hand movements with vibration.
Although such exercises are performed in a clinic or hospital that involves the supervision of a specialist therapist. But thanks to Gripable, the patient can take exercise and physiotherapy training at home at any time. In this way, people can move faster towards recovery by exercising at the time they want. On the other hand, it has been made more interesting by adding a game.
In 2019, it was tested on 30 paralyzed patients with weakened arms. Thanks to Gripable, patients were using it an average of 104 times a day, while in conventional hospital therapy they were able to perform it only 15 times.
In this way, people have felt very comfortable using this tool. The details are published in a research paper published in the Journal of Neurological Habitat and Neural Repair.
