Kinetic Muscles, Inc has just received a small business grant from the NIH, and will now begin clinical trials for its Hand Mentor:
The grant will fund a three-year, 70-patient clinical trial to study the use of the KMI Hand Mentor in the homes of stroke patients. This proprietary medical device is based on active repetitive motion principles that help stroke survivors regain hand function and independence. KMI devices facilitate stroke therapies based on a concept called neuroplasticity that have shown that the adult brain has the ability to rewire and repair itself.
From KMI’s website:
The KMI Hand Mentor is an exercise therapy device that actively involves the patient in their rehabilitation. The Mentor encourages a patient to extend their wrist and fingers as much as possible on their own. When maximum self extension is achieved the Mentor will engage a pneumatic actuator and assist the movement of the wrist and fingers to full extension. In addition to recruitment of hand function, the Mentor will actively stretch the hand in an effort to reduce spasticity.
The Mentor therapy regimen is very rigorous and requires dedication from the patient. It is recommended that the Mentor be used as an extension to an intense physical therapy program. Much like piano lessons, intense practice outside your “class time” increases the productivity of your time with the physical therapist.
More at KMI…