IW - Bluetooth Electromyography-based Stroke Therapeutic (BEST): Shifting the Paradigm with Biofeedback-Driven Home Therapy - This is a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project. Impulse Wellness LLC (IW) will, throughout this six-month award, research and develop the Bluetooth Electromyography-based Stroke Therapeutic (BEST) working prototype. The goal of this proposal is to create an immersive and intuitive stroke rehabilitation tool that helps functionally impaired users take a more active role in their recovery. The objectives are in line with National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research’s (NIDILRR) major outcome two, “health and function.” During the project’s inception, the IW team conducted an evaluative study (45 stroke survivors and care providers) to bring to light the barriers, facilitators, and untapped potential of rehabilitative technologies in clinical neurorehabilitation and to further ensure the needs of this target population are met. Through a rigorous systematic study and application of knowledge, the IW team will create an informative stroke therapeutic system and will develop the hardware, biofeedback algorithm, and mobile application. The BEST biofeedback system will incorporate state-of-the-art embedded dry electrodes to collect surface electromyography signals. In using our proprietary biofeedback algorithm and application, we will provide users with motivational, individualized, and clinically meaningful recovery information, such as the level of communication between a stroke survivor’s agonistic and antagonistic muscles. In Phase II, we will further test and refine the functional prototype based on the outcomes of this proposed Phase I research and development. This will be studied through additional research of the key objectives in Phase I, testing of additional metrics which will be systematically optimized based on the knowledge gained in the Phase I work, and research of the clinical implications of the BEST system. Phase II will culminate with a functional prototype that features interactive training games and individualized biofeedback results garnered from the BEST system. The Phase III goals will be to deploy a minimum viable product in response to experiences and information gained from the Phase I and Phase II research and developments with the anticipated outcomes of increased access to affordable stroke rehabilitation and improved quality of life for motor impaired stroke victims. We will also shift the treatment paradigm from low repetition on-site therapy to a high-dose motor repair intervention that is performed in the comfort of one’s own choosing. The expected products are a wearable system consisting of a muscle-sensing device and a user-friendly mobile biofeedback application that provide high-quality diagnostics and training games. This system will be an engaging and immersive experience that will speed up recovery, fine-tune users’ motor skills, and more rapidly bring stroke survivors back to their “BEST” when compared to traditional therapies.
