Article: AHS - Gripping Tale Of Invention

Made-In-Alberta ‘Joystick’ Helps Patients Regain Dexterity

Story and Photo by Greg Kennedy, June 19, 2012
From Alberta Health Services

EDMONTON — Playing video games with a unique, made-in-Alberta “joystick” is helping recovering stroke patient Steve Rodden improve his eye-hand co-ordination and fine motor skills, and have fun along the way.

“The technology is awesome,” says the 52-year-old machinist. “In one game, I shoot at moving targets that get faster and faster, to shorten my reaction time. For me, what’s most fun is the bartender game where I have to pour drinks and fill glasses as fast and as accurately as I can from specific bottles.”

The ReJoyce (Rehabilitation Joystick for Computerized Exercise) tool at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital is proving popular as it helps accident, stroke, brain and spinal-cord injury patients to regain hand, arm and shoulder function.

It’s a high-tech, spring-loaded arm with special handles and attachments that the patient moves, twists and squeezes to play customized video games that adapt themselves to the user’s abilities, combining range of motion with finer dexterity tasks. The technology resembles a smaller version of the Canadarm used by the U.S. space shuttle program.

“ReJoyce benefits people who have what we call decreased anti-gravity strength — the ability to lift your arm in space away from your body against the force of gravity,” says Quentin Ranson, Rehabilitation Technology Leader at the Alberta Health Services (AHS) facility. “It also helps people with weak grip strength, weak pinch strength and limited finger control who need help to address issues of physical weakness and co-ordination.”

The ReJoyce workstation also provides analysis after each session that helps therapists and patients to precisely measure and track progress. This information can also be used to develop strategies that help patients compensate for their impairments.

The $8,000 device was invented by two University of Alberta biomedical engineers — Dr. Arthur Prochazka, a physiology professor in the Centre for Neuroscience in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, and Jan Kowalczewski, now a Postdoctoral Fellow in Physiology — with funding support from Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions. ReJoyce is located in the Building Trades of Alberta Courage Centre at the Glenrose, which pioneered its clinical use in Canada during almost a decade of development.

Kowalczewski says ReJoyce’s games get patients to make repetitive movements that mimic the motions required for many daily activities.

“It tricks the brain to push you harder and harder — so that you maximize brain plasticity and force the person to improve on things that they can actually benefit from,” he says. “For lower-functioning patients, we have side handles for pushing, pulling and training the shoulder to prepare for more advanced games that range from flying a biplane to gardening.”

Every month, between eight to 12 patients train twice weekly on ReJoyce at the Glenrose.

“During the device’s development, its creators did test runs with stroke patients here for almost five years during pilot studies with earlier versions of ReJoyce,” says Ranson. “Here at the Glenrose, we’ve enjoyed a long-term partnership with them. I think it’s a point of pride and a priority for the entire Building Trades of Alberta Courage Centre to work with local industry to try to develop new technology.”

The Building Trades of Alberta Courage Centre is a hub for state-of-the-art rehabilitation equipment and technology, funded through the Building Trades of Alberta Charitable Foundation, as well as corporate and private donations to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.

“I’ve made a lot of strides since my stroke,” says Rodden. “It’s great. It’s helping me to make my hand-eye movements stable and more accurate. And the people at the Glenrose are very caring about what I’m doing and how I’m doing. I expect a full recovery soon.”

Copyright © 2012. Alberta Health Services