Abstract
Poststroke and traumatic elbow injuries are the most common cause of elbow sti
ness, which results in loss of functional range of motion (ROM). Various studies support early mobilization of the elbow joint after injury or after surgery to reduce risks of elbow sti
ness development. After hospitalization, patients are required to follow a long-term rehabilitation program during home recovery. Still, most patients do not adhere to their clinical therapy schedule due to either rehabilitation cost, social obligations, negligence, or lack of inspiration. Moreover, the numbers of therapists and assessment equipment are insucient. is study introduces a smart elbow brace (SEB) as a home-based rehabilitation device that reduces regular in-patient rehabilitation costs and therapist workload and motivates patients to comply with the rehabilitation program that enhances the achievement of rehabilitation goals. Our device has two active degrees of freedom (2-DoF) that allow extension, exion, pronation, and supination elbow motions. An extra sliding joint between forearm and wrist is added, which helps dump forces concentration at the elbow joint during extension-exion movement. Mechanical design requirements, motion-tracking systems, and serious game development are described. e feasibility of a proposed SEB device is tested with ve healthy subjects playing developed serious games with the device. e results show that subjects can attain maximum and minimum angles of exion-extension and pronation-supination motion designed for elbow sti
ness rehabilitation. e SEB device will be benecial and be used at home as a complementary tool to support elbow sti
ness rehabilitation during long-term home recovery.