May 5, 2018
Description
The Frog Arm is an experimental device for people who have some degree of paralysis distal to the elbow. Extending the elbow opens the fingers. This device does nothing to close the fingers, but many hands in paralysis are closed at rest, so they should close again on their own when the user bends the elbow.
I developed this design with a hemispherectomy patient. She had too much spasticity in her fingers for this device to work properly. And because she had reduced pain sensitivity, I decided against increasing the force on the fingers. I didn't want to risk doing harm. For someone whose fingers are less rigid, this might work better.
The Frog Arm is an experimental device. It may not be effective for your circumstance. If you have any doubts about safety, please do not use the device without the guidance of a medical professional. And please provide lots of feedback to me. If you can share your successes and failures with the device, or think of ways to improve the device, I would be very grateful.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nv1oTv5YnUUTnmsWfX3kXzpXNK5IyiDMPcxxBVYKJCA/edit?usp=sharing
License:
Creative Commons - Public Domain Dedication