A number of approaches have been tried in the past to accurately measure blood pressure, but the upper-arm cuff remains the standard used in hospitals, clinics, and by patients at home. People that require frequent daily checks of their blood pressure know that it can often be inconvenient to have to have a cuff-based pressure […]
Tag: Rehab
Smart Cane Detects Obstacles Using Ultrasound
At Texas A&M University a team of students has created a smart cane that can help visually impaired people to avoid obstacles. The Navigational & Object Visual Assistant (NOVA) is a prototype device that sends out ultrasonic signals in front of the user and vibrates when it detects something. The ultrasonic sensor is connected to motors […]
BONEBRIDGE, The First Wireless Bone Conducting Hearing Aid
MED-EL, based in Durham, North Carolina, won de novo FDA clearance for the first bone conducting hearing aid system that doesn’t require a connection between the implant and external component to penetrate the skin. The totally wireless connection of the BONEBRIDGE system means that there’s less maintenance required on the patient and a much lower chance […]
IntelliSense Virtual Reality Mindfulness Trainer: Medgadget Review
Stress is killing us. Daily demands and pressures all too often preoccupy our thoughts, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. Recent clinical data suggest that more than 70 percent of American adults regularly experience psychological and physical symptoms caused by stress, which include fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, and irritability. Personally, I am surprised this number […]
PocketECG Cardiac Rehabilitation System Helps to Get Most Out of Rehab Training
Medi-Lynx Cardiac Monitoring, part of MEDICALgorithmics, a Polish firm, won FDA clearance for its PocketECG Cardiac Rehabilitation System (CRS). The device, designed to record electrocardiography signals and to automatically spot cardiac arrhythmias, is intended to be used by patients, both high and low risk, that are undergoing rehab training. “PocketECG CRS was built on our PocketECG […]
EyeQue Insight Visual Acuity Screener: A Medgadget Review
Every year, our “screen time” continues to increase as our gadgets get bigger and brighter. According to the Vision Council, our digital devices are causing 60.5% of Americans to report symptoms of digital eye strain, and it’s uncertain how these devices will affect our vision long-term. Aside from taking frequent breaks from our devices, reducing […]
Humanoid Robot Teaches Autistic Kids to Recognize Emotions
Children with autism often seem to want to socialize with robots more than humans, something that researchers at MIT want to harness as a pathway for therapy. The team, partnering with others at Chubu University in Japan and Imperial College London, have given a popular humanoid robot, called NAO, the ability to see what the kids […]
Electronic Whiskers For Improved Prosthetic Touch
More than two million people are living with limb loss in the USA, and that number is expected to rise. For the majority of these individuals, prosthetic limbs are an invaluable tool to help regain some quality of life. One challenge that has been difficult to overcome in the design of prostheses, however, is enabling […]
3D-Printed Casts and Splints. Interview with Diana Hall, COO of ActivArmor
ActivArmor, based in Colorado, offers a range of 3D-printed casts and splints. The customized casts are breathable and water-proof, and can be made to either be fixed in place, or removable, as required. The company reports that patients wearing the new casts can complete a greater range of activities during their recovery, including swimming. The […]
A Brief Look at FOCI: The Wearable That Helps You Stay Calm and Focused
At the ITF Conference in Belgium in May, imec director Chris Van Hoof shared with us how mental health is an area of medicine that is underserved and ripe for innovation with medical technology. While they might be more for general wellness, we’re slowly starting to see a new wave of technologies in the form […]
Experiences from the First StimRouter Implanted in Patients in Canada
As a shadowing medical student in family medicine clinics in Toronto, I’d seen patients with chronic pain of a neurogenic origin and always felt heartbroken. I’d looked on in helplessness as we consoled the patients and offered them physiotherapy, bedrest, and pain killers. We and the patients knew none of these options were curative, and […]
Controlling Robots with Brainwaves and Hand Gestures to Improve Powered Prostheses
Methods to control robotic arms are closely related to those used to manipulate powered prosthetic arms. At MIT scientists have been working on improving how robots interact with humans, and this research should help to make prostheses more intuitive for amputees to control. The team from the institute’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have […]
Electronic Skin for Prosthetic Hands Lets Amputee Feel Touch, Pain
One of the most hoped-for features for prosthetic devices is being able to have a sense of touch. All the fine mechanics, motorized power, and dexterity that can be achieved in a robotic hand can’t be taken proper advantage of without feeling what it is you’re touching. Johns Hopkins researchers are working to make this […]
ResQ is Using Games to Fight Opioid Addiction: Interview with Dr. Paul Glimcher
Earlier this year at the Health 2.0 WinterTech Conference, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Catalyst @ Health 2.0 launched the RWJF Opioid Challenge, an initiative aimed at bringing together healthcare and technology innovators to solve a growing epidemic of addiction in the United States. A panel of 19 judges evaluated 97 initial submissions based […]
WiFi Radio Signals Let MIT Researchers Track Movements of People
Patients that wander away from their beds are a constant headache for nurses, while those that stay bedridden for too long can create problems of their own. New technology from MIT may soon allow hospital staff to see in real time the location of all the people in the facility. Because the new tech uses […]
Personalized Physical Therapy at Home Using Real Specialists and 3D Camera
Artificial hip and knee replacements require quite a bit of physical therapy post surgery to achieve the desired results. In many places and for many people, a rehab clinic may be too far away or time too short to receive regular therapy. At home exercises, even using virtual coaches, are helpful but they probably can’t […]
Braille Displays for People with Poor Vision Now Have Own USB Standard
In the modern world of technology, disabilities can limit access to certain technologies simply because there are no standards in place. One such example are Braille displays that only worked on some systems and it wasn’t trivial to figure out which ones to get for what task. The USB Implementers Forum, which works to […]
Wristband with a Myriad of Sensors to Improve Lives of Dementia Patients
At the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Berlin, Germany researchers are working on a sensor and software package that would help people developing dementia to slow down the disease progression and improve their and their families’ quality of life. The system, that has already been tried on patients, revolves around a wristband that measures […]
Artificial Sensory Nerve Made of Flexible Organic Electronics
Scientists at Stanford and Seoul National University managed to build artificial tactile sensory nerves out of flexible organic electronics. The system is able to detect pressures down to 1 kilopascal and to do so in clusters that mimic the sensitivity of natural skin. Using their device the investigators were able to read Braille as would […]
First Prosthetic to Really Let The User Feel Its Presence
Even the most advanced modern prosthetic devices don’t give the user a proper sense of the orientation of their mechanical appendage. This is in contrast to our native arms and legs that we can move quite accurately without having to look at how they’re doing. A major breakthrough has been announced by researchers at MIT […]