This resource focuses on the principles, modeling, standards, devices, and technologies of rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. It describes numerous design models and processes, including participatory action design and service delivery models. The book also discusses the components of devices such as cushions, wheelchairs, prostheses, orthoses, hearing aids, and TTYs. The contributors assess industry standards and explore innovative technology aids, such as sensors, robot-assisted therapy, and speech recognition software. The text contains a set of learning objectives and study questions in each chapter as well as a list of definitions at the end of the book.

The purpose of this handbook is to bring together information on the special devices and associated systems which have been developed to assist the handicapped in living and vocational pursuits and in clinical use. This unique work places emphasis on the devices and systems plus includes sufficient background information to clarify the objectives and use. The general subject matter is divided into two major areas. The first area deals primarily with the environment of the handicapped. The second section deals with devices for personal assist systems-such as for testing, evaluation, and training-and devices which provide individualized support. The information in this comprehensive handbook will assist those working directly in the broad field of rehabilitation of the handicapped and also those associated with the subject matter in a peripheral way, including counseling and vocational evaluation.

The discipline of rehabilitation engineering draws on a wide range of specialist knowledge, from the biomedical sciences to materials technology. Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation provides broad background and motivational material to ease readers' introduction to the subject. The book begins with a wide-ranging yet concise introduction to the legislative, technological, testing, and design basis of rehabilitation engineering, followed by the fundamentals of design and materials and a full account of the biomechanics of rehabilitation. Major sections of the book are devoted to various aspects of mobility, including detailed discussion of wheelchair design. Valuable additional material deals with seating, prosthetic devices, robotics, and the often-neglected subject of recreational devices and vehicles. More than a thousand references to the research and review literature put readers in touch with the leading edge of a rapidly growing field.

Innovations in paediatric rehabilitation engineering can serve as a springboard to education, psychosocial, social, physical and cognitive development for children and youth with disabilities. Instead of providing an overview of rehabilitation engineering, Paediatric Rehabilitation Engineering focuses on the uniqueness of the paediatric subspecialt

The most recent high-profile advocate for Americans with disabilities, actor Christopher Reeve, has highlighted for the public the economic and social costs of disability and the importance of rehabilitation. Enabling America is a major analysis of the field of rehabilitation science and engineering. The book explains how to achieve recognition for this evolving field of study, how to set priorities, and how to improve the organization and administration of the numerous federal research programs in this area. The committee introduces the "enabling-disability process" model, which enhances the concepts of disability and rehabilitation, and reviews what is known and what research priorities are emerging in the areas of: Pathology and impairment, including differences between children and adults. Functional limitationsâ€"in a person's ability to eat or walk, for example. Disability as the interaction between a person's pathologies, impairments, and functional limitations and the surrounding physical and social environments. This landmark volume will be of special interest to anyone involved in rehabilitation science and engineering: federal policymakers, rehabilitation practitioners and administrators, researchers, and advocates for persons with disabilities.

Prostheses, assistive systems, and rehabilitation systems are essential to increasing the quality of life for people with disabilities. Research and development over the last decade has resulted in enormous advances toward that goal-none more so than the development of intelligent systems and technologies. In the first truly comprehensive book addressing intelligent technologies for the disabled, top experts from around the world provide an overview of this dynamic, rapidly evolving field. They present state-of-the-art information on the latest, innovative technologies and their applications in various systems designed to better the lives of the disabled. From the underlying principles to the design, practical applications, and assessment of results, Intelligent Systems and Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering offers broad, pragmatic coverage of the field. It incorporates the most recent advances in sensory and limb prostheses, myoelectric control systems, circulatory systems, assistive technologies, and applications of virtual reality. Rapid progress demands a concerted effort to keep up with the latest developments so they can begin to serve their purpose and improve the lives of the disabled. By incorporating details of the latest and most important advances into one volume, Intelligent Systems and Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering makes that undertaking essentially effortless.

Stroke is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Stroke survivors often have motorimpairments which contribute to upper limbs dysfunctions, reduced balance, posturalcontrol and reduced mobility and proprioception. These physical symptoms lead toreduced social participation and poor quality of life. Over the past ten years, therehad been an enormous focus on the use of virtual reality (VR) and other technologiesto improve clinical outcomes for people with stroke. These technologies includelarge scale bespoke manufactured immersvie virtual reality system, or home basedrehabilitation device such as the commercially available device Nitendo Wii andMicrosoft XBox. The clinical efficacy of these rehabilitation technologies had beenstudied extensively but our understanding of the underlying mechanism of recoveryinduced by these technologies is poor. There are two aspects of “recovery” must beconsidered. One is the learning compensation strategies where patients acquired“new” skills to improve functional abilities. The other aspect is the neuroplasticitymechanism which leads to cortical map reorganisation. The patient is able to re-usethe same body segments in the same way as they did before the stroke. Publishedstudies generally reported improvement in upper limb function, lower limb function,balance and gait. This leads to the uncertainty whether these technologies areeffective in promoting “recovery” at neural level or functional level. With the advance in technology, monitoring techniques such as neural imaging,motion analysis, and EMGs devices have broad applications in the understandingof neural recovery post stroke. Studies that utilize functional outcome measuresor observational design may be more effective in identifying functional recovery.A combination of the two designs may be helpful to provide new insights on therecovery mechanism induced by rehabilitation devices.