Theoretical Investigations on a Dynamic Hand Orthosis Based on a Prestressed Compliant Structure with Respect to Stiffness and Wrist-Forces

Many currently available dynamic hand orthoses use articulated connections that have one degree of freedom, such as hinge joints. These orthoses are therefore only able to replicate the multiaxial range of motion of the human hand to a limited extent. A possible solution for replecating the multiaxial movements of the hand is the use of pre-stressed compliant structures as a basis for the orthoses. After a brief description of this concept, the two main first steps by the development, the so called form-finding and the wrist-joint force characterization by hand movements are explained with theoretical analysis based on the static Finite Element Method. The influence of the orthosis parameters, global stiffness and geometric dimensions as well as the influence of the wrist-joint position relative to the orthosis are discussed. Finally, the next planned development steps towards to the first prototype are outlined.