Device stimulates paralyzed hands, arms to move again

A new medical device developed in Canada helps stimulate arms and hands frozen by paralysis from stroke or spinal cord injuries.

The device, called Rejoyce, combines a wristband that uses electronic pulses that open and close the hand in response to the patient clicking their teeth, and a computer joystick that helps develop movement and motor skills.

"The first time I went in, they put on the electrodes on your arm, and all of a sudden, my hand opened, and I was like, 'I like that,'" recalled Ginny Bockman of Thorsby, Alta., who helped to test the device after she was paralyzed in a traffic collision two years ago.

Bockman was unable to walk or use her hands and was completely dependent on others. As she used the device, feeling and movement began to return to her hands and arms, Bockman said.

In traditional forms of physiotherapy, a therapist judges whether a patient improves, based on observation at a clinic. In contrast, Rejoyce is used in the home.

It employs video games to challenge patients to use their arms and hands as an electronic simulator prompts them to perform tasks like rotating a handle or fitting a key into a doorknob.

"We can now offer people with spinal cord injury and stroke continued therapy for many weeks in their homes," said the device's designer, Arthur Prochazka.

Physiotherapist Su Ling Chong works with patients for an hour each day. Using a videoconferencing link, she sees and talks to them and is able to gauge their progress accurately.

"We get the user to go through the range [of movement], and it actually records how strong their grip is, how much their range is, and then from there we can modify the games to challenge them even more."

Now that the testing is complete, Bockman has returned the device and continues to do exercises like gardening at her home 50 kilometres from Edmonton. 

The technology is now being licensed so it can be sold worldwide to rehabilitation centres, hospitals and individuals. 

Chris McBride, head of the Spinal Cord Injury Solutions Network in Vancouver and managing director of the International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries or ICORD, called the Rejoyce system an important advance, and the first of its kind anywhere in the world.