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The BioBall device, developed for wrist function rehabilitation, allows the execution of movements with a greater level of control. A component was added to make it possible to read the range of motion of the patient’s wrist. Thus, this project came up intending to evaluate the performance and suitability of the BioBall device for wrist function rehabilitation. To this end, a technical evaluation was performed in order to verify the consistency and accuracy of BioBall. Technical tests consisted of amplitude readings taken by the device, either in automatic or manual mode, “Passive Exercise” and “Physical Exercise” respectively. From the results obtained in this analysis it was concluded that the BioBall device, besides functioning correctly, can collect the angular data with consistency and it is suitable to follow the evolution of a patient's rehabilitation. In order to evaluate whether the BioBall device performs reproducible and repeatable range of motion measurements, a test-retest was performed on healthy subjects (with the space of one week). The maximum amplitude of each wrist movement of the participants was measured. The results of the statistical analysis showed that, although there is some variation in the amplitudes obtained between the test and the retest, the device has good reliability in measuring the range of motion of the wrist.

The mechatronic device has been designed and implemented based on the comprehensive rehabilitation of the paretic upper limb. This system has been prepared for an individual approach to the recovery process including diagnostics, passive or active exercises with biofeedback and reports. The mechatronic device consists of a three basic cooperating parts: mechatronic frame with module for hand and forearm rehabilitation, glove for the hand rehabilitation and module for health hand. This mechatronic device was developed in order to realize a passive exercises and active exercises with paralysed limb using the healthy limb to conduct these exercises. A very important part of rehabilitation is to introduce biofeedback (e.g. visual and auditory) to motion exercises. This paper presents the main technical characteristics of the project, especially design, kinematics and dynamics of the device and the details of the hardware/software system. This paper suggests a new approach to the rehabilitation device for the spastic upper limb of stroke survivors. The functionality of the mechatronic device for hand and forearm rehabilitation have been presented during the first tests, and preliminary assessment of usability and acceptance is promising.

An increase in the incidence rate of cardiovascular disease is attributed to high daily sitting time, while a drop in risk of cardiovascular disease comes from a decrease in daily sitting time, rather than an increase in physical activity levels. Although short-duration passive exercise increases energy expenditure and blood flow, few studies have reported on the responses of cardiorespiratory dynamics to long-duration passive exercise. The purpose of this study was to consider the effect of long-duration passive exercise for 20 min on cardiorespiratory and muscle oxygen dynamics. Eight healthy men continuously performed passive exercise using a cycle ergometer for 20 min at 50 rpm. Changes in oxygen uptake, cardiac output and muscle oxygenation were measured during passive cycling exercise. The oxygen uptake at 1 min after the start of passive exercise was significantly increased, compared to resting level, but subsequently returned to the same as resting level. Cardiac output showed no change during passive cycling exercise. Tissue oxygen saturation increased after the start of passive exercise and subsequently maintained steady state. These results suggest that the effect of increases in energy expenditure was not maintained by passive exercise for 20 min. In addition, it is likely that passive cycling exercise for 20 min has an effect on peripheral circulation, although the exercise seems to have no effect on central circulation.

The paper presents a proposal of a four degrees of freedom (DOF) upper limb rehabilitation exoskeleton and its control system which is designed for the control of the serial mechanisms angular position. It contains as an extension, a module for driving of a braking system with smart fluids. The proposed control system is suitable for active and passive exercises. The rehabilitation system is developed for rehabilitation training at home, without a supervision of a qualified person during exercises.