Development and Usability Testing of a Finger Grip Enhancer for the Elderly

As people age, their finger function deteriorates due to muscle, nerve, and brain degeneration. While exercises might delay this deterioration, an invention that enhances elderly people’s pinching abilities is essential. This study aims to design and develop a finger grip enhancer that facilitates the day-to-day pinching activities of elderly people. This research is an extension of a previous study that conceptualised a finger grip enhancer. The device facilitates finger flexion on the thumb and index finger, and weighs 520 g, allowing for improved portability and sufficient force exertion (13.9 N) for day-to-day pinching. To test for usability, eleven subjects aged 65 years and above performed a pinch-lift-hold test on various household objects. The pinch force before and after utilising the device was measured. Using Minitab 18, the statistical significance of using this device was analysed with a paired-samples t-test. With this device, the elderly people’s pinching abilities significantly improved in both pinch force and pinch force steadiness (p < 0.05). The proposed device has the potential to enhance elderly people’s quality of life by supporting a firm pinch in the handling of everyday objects. This research has applicational value in developing exoskeleton devices for patients who require rehabilitation.

A Musculoskeletal Model of the Hand and Wrist Capable of Simulating Functional Tasks

Objective: The purpose of this work was to develop an open-source musculoskeletal model of the hand and wrist and to evaluate its performance during simulations of functional tasks. Methods: The musculoskeletal model was developed by adapting and expanding upon existing musculoskeletal models. An optimal control theory framework that combines forward-dynamics simulations with a simulated-annealing optimization was used to simulate maximum grip and pinch force. Active and passive hand opening were simulated to evaluate coordinated kinematic hand movements. Results: The model's maximum grip force production matched experimental measures of grip force, force distribution amongst the digits, and displayed sensitivity to wrist flexion. Simulated lateral pinch strength fell within variability of in vivo palmar pinch strength data. Additionally, predicted activation for 7 of 8 muscles fell within variability of EMG data during palmar pinch. The active and passive hand opening simulations predicted reasonable activations and demonstrated passive motion mimicking tenodesis, respectively. Conclusion: This work advances simulation capabilities of hand and wrist models and provides a foundation for future work to build upon. Significance: This is the first open-source musculoskeletal model of the hand and wrist to be implemented during both functional kinetic and kinematic tasks. We provide a novel simulation framework to predict maximal grip and pinch force which can be used to evaluate how potential surgical and rehabilitation interventions influence these functional outcomes while requiring minimal experimental data.

The Association between Chronic Hemodialysis and Toe Pinch Force in Japanese Patients: Cross-Sectional Study

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the effect of chronic hemodialysis on toe pinch force (TPF). A total of 37 chronic hemodialysis patients without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (age: 69.4 ± 11.8 years, duration of hemodialysis: 3.5 ± 3.4 years) were enrolled in this study. The TPF in chronic hemodialysis patients without T2DM was compared with that in 34 apparently healthy participants and 37 chronic hemodialysis patients with T2DM. There was no significant difference in clinical profiles between healthy participants and chronic hemodialysis patients with and without T2DM. The TPF in chronic hemodialysis patients without T2DM was lower compared with that in healthy participants (2.70 ± 1.05 kg vs. 3.34 ± 0.99 kg, p = 0.025). In addition, the TPF in patients with T2DM was even lower compared with that in patients without T2DM (2.12 ± 1.01 kg vs. 2.70 ± 1.05 kg, p = 0.042). This study showed a dramatic reduction in TPF in chronic hemodialysis patients, especially in those with T2DM.

Classifying muscle parameters with artificial neural networks and simulated lateral pinch data

Objective Hill-type muscle models are widely employed in simulations of human movement. Yet, the parameters underlying these models are difficult or impossible to measure in vivo. Prior studies demonstrate that Hill-type muscle parameters are encoded within dynamometric data. But, a generalizable approach for estimating these parameters from dynamometric data has not been realized. We aimed to leverage musculoskeletal models and artificial neural networks to classify one Hill-type muscle parameter (maximum isometric force) from easily measurable dynamometric data (simulated lateral pinch force). We tested two neural networks (feedforward and long short-term memory) to identify if accounting for dynamic behavior improved accuracy. Methods We generated four datasets via forward dynamics, each with increasing complexity from adjustments to more muscles. Simulations were grouped and evaluated to show how varying the maximum isometric force of thumb muscles affects lateral pinch force. Both neural networks classified these groups from lateral pinch force alone. Results Both neural networks achieved accuracies above 80% for datasets which varied only the flexor pollicis longus and/or the abductor pollicis longus. The inclusion of muscles with redundant functions dropped model accuracies to below 30%. While both neural networks were consistently more accurate than random guess, the long short-term memory model was not consistently more accurate than the feedforward model. Conclusion Our investigations demonstrate that artificial neural networks provide an inexpensive, data-driven approach for approximating Hill-type muscle-tendon parameters from easily measurable data. However, muscles of redundant function or of little impact to force production make parameter classification more challenging.

Investigations on Roller-Based Filament Drives

The filament drive is a key part of the extrusion assembly of a Fused Filament Fabrication printer. This investigation examines the maximum feed force and the slip of different driving rollers using a filament made of polylactic-acid (PLA) on a test stand. The test stand systematically varies the main feed process parameters: feed velocity, pinch force between the rollers, and feed force. The maximum feed force has a characteristic dependency on the pinch force combined with a feed-velocity-dependency, which is influenced by the outer diameter of the driving roller. The slip was found to increase linearly with the feed force. The slip decreases with increasing pinch force and is nearly constant for pinch forces above 77 N—172 N, depending on the driving roller tooth geometry and outer diameter. A model derived from contact mechanics was used for phenomenological modeling of the slip in relation to pinch force and feed velocity. An exponential ansatz provided good modeling of the slip at a constant pinch force. The model of the slip combined with the extrusion forces in the liquefier can be used to estimate the material flow in the future, thus leading to increased precision of the parts in a magnitude of systems.