Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Research and Innovations (new projects / technology / innovations / service models)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
HA Young Investigators Session (Projects to be presented by HA staff who had joined HA for 10 years or less)
Authors (including presenting author) :
LEE YT (1), KO WN(1), CHEUNG P(1), LAU WLC(1), TO TS(1), CHAN YLD(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
More than 50% of spinal cord injury (SCI) patient in Kowloon Hospital (KH) suffered from cervical cord injury, which led to hand function impairment and impacted their activities of daily living (ADL). Tenodesis splint is designed for cervical SCI patient, who can voluntarily move their wrist but not fingers, to make use of their wrist movement to perform a three-jaw chuck grasp, allowing them to perform different ADL. However, the fabrication could take time and the devices could be cumbersome. 3D-printing is a promising technology that may fill these gaps.
Objectives :
Collect feedback from user, assess user’s hand function with the 3D printed splint and compare the fabrication process between the traditional way and 3D printing.
Methodology :
A 64-year old male individual with cervical SCI who couldn’t move his finger but had active wrist extension was recruited. An open-source, modular design of the splint by Portnova Alexandra A., et al (2018) was adopted and modified. Hand function with the splint was assessed with Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function (JTHF) test. User’s feedback was collected.
Result & Outcome :
Without the splint, our client couldn’t perform the JTHF test with weak natural tenodesis grip. With the splint, he was able to perform 4 tasks of the JTHF test including simulated page turning (62s), Lifting small common objects (170s), Simulated feeding (100s), and stacking checkers (13s). Pinch force was measured as 4 pound-force with the splint. On a scale from 1 to 5, patient rated 5 on splint’s function, 5 on aesthetics, 5 on comfort and 4 on willingness to use, compared to 3, 3, 4 and 3 respectively with the conventional splint. The weight of the 3D printed splint is 147g, which is 12.5% lighter compared to 168g of conventional one.
A modular 3-D printed design allowed the bulk pre-printing of different parts, then OT could just pick up components and start assemble based on patient’s hand measurement. However, the durability of a working splint 3D printed with Polylactic Acids (PLA) material is subject to further examination. In this study, 3 D printing technology is able to fill the gap by making splint fabrication efficient and providing a lighter, more aesthetic splint which increases compliance.
