Currently, an estimated 187,000 children within the United Kingdom, and millions worldwide, have some sort of arm disability. This can be linked to damage or various conditions, such as cerebral palsy. Therapeutic interventions, such as physical and occupational therapy, are crucial to enhance arm, hand, and limb strength, function, and dexterity. Ultimately, this can help these individuals gain function and offers some semblance of independence. 

According to an article in BusinessCloud, GripAble, a rehabilitation technology startup, was given an £800K Innovate UK grant to develop soft sensors to assist with upper limb therapy for pediatric patients. The GripAble team, alongside Dr. Firat Güder, the Guder Research Group, and a variety of other specialists, therapists, and engineers to create this technology. 

These soft sensors – which the team is working on patenting – will use soft-sensing technology and gamification to help those with cerebral palsy, and other limb or arm problems, strengthen their limbs. This technology, called SqueezAble, can support other therapeutic interventions (such as stress balls) with virtual games and tasks for the patients to partake in. 

In the past, GripAble developed a device designed to assess and train a wide variety of hand and arm movements. Learn more about GripAble here. 

About Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Cerebral palsy is a neurological movement disorder that is characterized by impaired movement and coordination, as well as a lack of muscle control. There are a variety of potential causes. For example, cerebral palsy may result from brain injury at birth, during fetal development, or within the first two years of life. This brain injury or damage may result from a traumatic head injury, infant infections, a fetal stroke, maternal infections, gene mutations, or (in rare cases) a lack of oxygen to the brain during labor or delivery. Cerebral palsy is variable in severity. Symptoms and characteristics can include:

• Muscle rigidity or spasticity
• Excessive drooling or difficulty swallowing, sucking, or eating
• Variations in muscle tone (too stiff or too loose)
• Difficulty walking or performing precise motions
• Favoring one side of the body
• Abnormal touch or pain perceptions
• Incontinence
• Intellectual delays
• Vision and hearing problems
• Motor skill milestone delays
• Athetosis (slow, writhing movements)
• Seizures