Resistance bands are commonly used for physical therapy to strengthen a stroke patient’s gross motor control.

We aim to create a device that can be fastened onto any resistance band and will measure certain variables to aid in quantifying a patient’s rehabilitation. Currently, medical professionals and physical therapists have to manually count the number of repetitions a patient has performed. The process of collecting and manually inserting the data onto a computer is often time consuming, and takes the physician away from the patient.

We intend to minimize this tedious process.

The pulling force applied to the resistance band are typically estimated based on the stated resistance level. Therefore, physicians are unsure of the exact pulling force a patient is exerting and whether the patient is positively progressing. With our device, we will be able to measure this variable. Our device is shown above as both a CAD model and our first generation prototype. We used an ordinary resistance band and added smart features such as a force gauge and an arduino to transmit the data. This is encased in a 3D printed housing. The measurements will be displayed to the physicians through an app,as shown above labeled "user interface", in the forms of charts or graphs for ease of readability. The goal of this device is to help physicians easily visualize a patient’s rehabilitation.

DATA COLLECTION

Data collection is shown here by pulling the force gauges, which will be attatched to the resistance band as pictured in the CAD model. The data collection is currently being recorded by max force, showing this as peaks. This data is then made into a user interface on a mobile application as shown above. The user interface can be seen as a line graph or bar graph. It shows progression over time considering iterations and force exerted.