An obstetric brachial plexus lesion rehabilitation platform

Purpose: Obstetric brachial plexus lesions (OBPL) are caused by the lesion or rupture of the cervical and thoracic nerves during birth. Physical therapy, based on ludic activities, can be useful to improve the OBPL treatment in children. This paper proposes a rehabilitation platform with a ludic interface (lights and sounds), using the magnitude motion gain of a user to aid in the OBPL treatment. Methods: The motor development table (MDT) is an electronic platform composed of eight light segments (with green and red LEDs) that detect the touch of a child’s hand (by optic proximity sensors). Each touch generates a different sound, depending on the exercise. The physiotherapist can choose the MDT game, and the child score can be recorded. The operation of the rehabilitation platform was tested in relation to its behavior depending on the environmental lighting, its efficiency in data processing, and its maximum distance of drive. We also applied an opinion survey. Results: The tests showed that the MDT can be used in environments with up to 1015 lx of illumination and that the incidence of high-intensity light affects the segments’ ability to detect the hand. In addition, the tests demonstrated that the behavior of this device is not affected by the number of errors or triggers performed during the exercises. Conclusion: Based on these findings and on the opinion survey, it is possible to conclude that the MDT can reliably assist the physiotherapist in orthopedic management by providing feedback from the sessions and the patients’ temporal progress. © 2019, Sociedade Brasileira de Engenharia Biomedica.