Design of a Hand Tendon Injury Rehabilitation System using a DOF Constrainer Mechanism

Rehabilitation is a process in which the patient achieves his/her lost ability and individual independence in performing their daily activities using numerous facilities and equipment. About 30% of human life-threatening injuries are related to their hand. The human hand, as one of the most important organs of the human body in interacting with the environment, has the greatest role in maintaining individual independence in daily work. In this article, a rehabilitation system has been designed for hand tendon injury using observations of traditional rehabilitation of hand injuries after surgery and recovery period, and through a mechanism based on structures restricting undesirable degrees of freedom. The mechanism used in this design has been selected by considering conventional tendon injury rehabilitation exercises. In this way, the system can easily bend the finger over the marked joint by using a tendon shape mechanism, which applies force on the tip of the finger. The process of system designing is completed using a prototype to examine the method of operation as well as to obtain the required forces for choosing electrical elements.