With the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare as it is often called, medical technology is beginning to take mighty leaps. Inefficient systems are being replaced with more technologically superior ones, cutting unnecessary costs and allowing patients to get state of the art care through Telemedicine. One important example of these changes is the MusicGlove Telemedicine Device, developed by Flint Rehabilitation Devices, based in Irvine.
Regaining mobility and manual dexterity after a stoke or spinal cord injury can be a long, tedious process. Many patients may never fully recover. The MusicGlove Telemedicine Device is worn as a glove by patients suffering loss of manual dexterity. The Device works in tandem with a musical game, prompting patients to tap out specific signals and perform certain tasks releated to dexterity. Repetition is critical for rehabilitation.
The tasks are meant to be performed rhythmically along with the music, allowing patients to use functions such as pinching, grabbing and tapping. These movements are instrumental to successful rehabilitation, but are difficult or impossible for injured patients to effectively perform without the Device. The musical accompaniment helps to distract from the task, while encouraging the movements in a more natural manner. These movements help repair damage.
Flint Rehabilitation Devices has received 1.5 million dollars in grants from the National Institutes Of Health (NIH) to develop and distribute the MusicGlove. The startup company will now be conducting two clinical trials to determine how effective the Device is in treating stroke and spinal cord injury victims. If the trials are proven to be successful, the MusicGlove could become a vital piece in advancing modern rehabilitation treatments for those who have suffered serious loss in manual dexterity and movement.
The state of medical treatment and technology will continue to evolve and become more intertwined in the coming years. For that reason, breakthrough technical advances such as the MusicGlove Telemedicine Device are likely to continue expanding our knowledge of what is possible.