Back in Control

Stroke has been regarded as the most common cause of disability and a leading cause of mortality worldwide according to the survey conducted by Agha Khan university hospital in January 2019. It is documented in their report on ?The epidemiology of stroke in a developing country (Pakistan)? that stro

Project Title

Back in Control

Project Area of Specialization

NeuroTech

Project Summary

Stroke has been regarded as the most common cause of disability and a leading cause of mortality worldwide according to the survey conducted by Agha Khan university hospital in January 2019. It is documented in their report on “The epidemiology of stroke in a developing country (Pakistan)” that stroke is the cause of 6.7 million deaths each year. Pakistan has the world’s highest rate of stroke per capita. The stroke rate per 100,000 in Pakistan is 250 per year, which is projected to an estimate of 350,000 new cases every year.

The statistics indicates that stroke is among the leading medical condition which significantly impacts country’s economy thereby highlighting the importance of awareness and development of therapeutic interventions for addressing this issue. The proposed project endeavours to tackle this growing health care concern and is expected to target stroke patients suffering from partial paralysis where motor ability (e.g. flexion of arm) is compromised. The idea is an innovative approach that will makes use of one of the intriguing characteristics of brain of neuroplasticity for restoring motor abilities by enabling the brain to artificially learn alternative neural paths to control the movement of paralysed arm again, by-passing the injured area. This can be achieved by injecting flexion signals of the unaffected arm into the paralysed arm of the person in such way that movement of unaffected arm will cause the paralysed arm to replicate the same motion hence taking away the free will of the paralysed arm. This injection and replication of movement signals into paralysed arm as performed by the unaffected arm will enable the brain to train paralysed arm to adapt to new/alternate pathways to regain impaired functions.

This project focuses to elevate health care standards of partial paralytic patients by enabling them to perform their daily life activities autonomously thereby controlling the epidemiology of global burden of life adjusted disability and contributing to improved economy. The objectives of this project are aligned with three sustainable development goals (3, 8, 9) and also with Pakistan vision 2025. This proposed non-invasive, drug free tailored solution will comply with World Bank by implementing technological use in clinical practices and will significantly impact health care sector in particular physiotherapy division.

Project Objectives

Objective 1: To design and develop a low cost bio amplifiers and stimulators with an efficiency comparable to commercially available costly devices and integrate them in such a way that will facilitate partial paralytic patients to regain their lost motor functions by allowing the subject’s brain to artificially learn alternative neural paths promoting well-being and in turn decreases economic burden by reducing disability adjusted life years.

Objective 2: Design and development of this tailored solution will groom rehabilitation centers by furnishing them with upgraded technology to restore the lost motor functions of paraplegic patients

Sustainable Development Goals:

Good health and well-being: This unique integrated solution will enable partial paralytic patients to rehabilitate at home to regain their lost motor functions thereby promote good health and well-being and will raise standard of life.

Decent work and economic growth: To design and develop a low-cost bio signal amplifier and simulator by utilizing in house/indigenous resources thereby contributing to economic growth of the country

Industry, innovation and infrastructure: Introducing technology driven rehabilitation solution over conventional practices will promotes inclusive and sustainable industrialization by instigating startup for production of the proposed solution locally and generate employment opportunities

Pakistan Vision 2020:

Design and development of technology based tailored solution by exploiting native resources will improve quality of life by Putting people first and promote Entrepreneurship and Sustained, indigenous and inclusive growth which in turn will raise Competitive knowledge economy

Project Implementation Method

The design and development of this novel technological intervention for the purpose of restoring impaired motor functions of stroke patients suffering from partial paralysis is broadly classified in to two phases. First one focuses on design and development of a unique device, which acquires myoelectric signals from healthy arm and injecting them into affected/paralysed arm. Multiple training sessions with the proposed intervention will enable your brain to learn and adapt new and alternate paths to perform the lost motor functions. Whereas, the second category deals with validation of the designed intervention by evaluating the effectiveness of each module alone and also analyze the efficacy of the device as a whole.

Phase 1: Design and Development of Proposed Intervention.

This phase comprises of three main modules which on integration will enable stroke survivors to regain their impaired motor activities. Each of these modules are explained as follows:

Module 1: Bio-signal Amplifier:

A low-cost bio-signal amplifier will be designed and developed with an accuracy comparable to commercially available costly devices employed to acquire electrical signals from the muscle. It involves:

• Literature Review
• Component selection
• Software design and simulation
• Hardware design (Varo board/PCB)

Module 2: Microcontroller:

It is the decision making unit which understand the signals coming out of your body in particular muscles and discriminate between the movements initiated voluntarily, from the ones performed with the assistance of someone else based on which it activates/deactivates muscle stimulator to which it is interfaced.

Module 3: Muscle Stimulator:

A cost-effective muscle simulator will also be developed which can inject low amplitude electric signals to the nerve of affected/paralysed arm which in turn will produce movement without causing any damage. It involves:

• Literature Review
• Technique selection
• Component selection
• Software design and simulation
• Hardware design (Varo board/PCB)

The aforementioned components will be integrated in such a way that the acquired muscle signal will be evaluated for self-initiation based on which the affected arm replicates the same motion enabling brain to learn new pathways for performing the impaired functions.

Stage 2: Validation:

This stage deals with evaluating the effectiveness of the designed and developed modules with the commercially available devices.

Moreover, it will also analyze the efficacy of the designed intervention over the conventional treatment practices.

Benefits of the Project

• Allowing individuals to perform activities of daily life (ADLs) autonomously eliminating the dependency on others for routine activities.
• Grooming mental and rehabilitation centers with upgraded technological measures/interventions.
• Elevate the standard of health care centers with new and interactive therapeutic methods to be employed as augmentative treatment in conjunction with medication to ensure enhanced quality of life.
• Raise living standards by reducing the cost of the health care facilities provided involving costly amplifiers and muscle stimulators

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final deliverable of this project will be a cost effective, battery operated, non-invasive and non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention that will produces favourable effects in the domain of physiotherapy with technology driven intervention for rehabilitation that will enable stroke survivors to regain their impaired motor functions/activities. The proposed intervention will comprise of a low cost bio signal amplifier that can capture muscle activities and distinguish self-initiated motion from assisted movements with the help of a controller based on which it turns the muscle stimulator on which in turn will inject signals into the nerves of affected/paralyzed arm. The repeated sessions with the proposed intervention will enable the brain of the individual to learn and adapt new alternate pathways to execute lost/impaired motor activities employing the principle of neuroplasticity.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Health

Other Industries

Medical

Core Technology

NeuroTech

Other Technologies

Wearables and Implantables

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com