This technology is a neck brace that provides patient-controlled support necessary for muscular training, movement tracking, and rehabilitation while maintaining a natural range of motion.
Patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS, are often unable to support their own head and neck, resulting in a significant decrease in mobility and quality of life. Current neck braces allow for sufficient support, but their rigidity limits the range of motion and they cannot automatically move the head/neck in response to input signals such as eye movements. Providing active motion control in a neck brace can aid in rehabilitation and strengthening of muscular strength to improve mobility and quality of life.
This technology is a neck brace that utilizes elastic elements to provide passive support, coupled with multiple actuators to actively control motion. The combination of these two strategies provides continuous neck support while still enabling smooth, natural motion. Patient neck biomechanics are analyzed to determine optimal positioning for the customizable actuators and provide a personalized design. These neck braces incorporate sensors to measure neck movements for diagnostic purposes as well as motors responsive to inputs from a joystick or an eye tracker for assisted head and neck movements.
This technology has been validated on ALS patients and healthy volunteers.
IR CU16167
Licensing Contact: Dovina Qu