Wearable Brace for Tremor Reduction via Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing body wearable braces for reducing involuntary arm movements, such as those caused by essential tremor, are difficult to attach to the user's wrist, forearm, and upper arm, limiting their effectiveness and usability, especially for patients with tremor disorders.
Innovation Solution
A body wearable brace designed to allow dynamic movement of the upper arm, forearm, wrist, and hand, featuring an upper arm piece, hand piece, elbow flexion-extension joint, forearm pronation-supination joint, and wrist flexion-extension joint, with an extension element that allows for easy fitting and adjustment, providing three degrees of freedom of motion while reducing involuntary movements without the need for straps on the forearm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the brace uses multiple attachment points with straps on the forearm, wrist, and upper arm, then the stability and effectiveness of the device in reducing involuntary movements is improved, but the ease of operation and ease of manufacture deteriorate due to the complexity of attachment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the intermediate attachment components (straps and supports on the forearm) from the system, creating a direct connection between the upper arm and hand pieces. This extraction simplifies the attachment process while maintaining the essential function of reducing involuntary movements through the mechanical joint structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The brace is divided into distinct functional segments: an upper arm piece with a first joint for elbow movement, and a hand piece with a second joint for wrist movement. These segments are connected through an extensible element that can be adjusted independently, allowing each segment to perform its specific function while simplifying the overall attachment process.
2Manufacturing precision
If the brace is designed with fixed length components, then the manufacturing precision is improved, but the adaptability to different user sizes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The extensible element connecting the upper arm piece and hand piece is designed to be adjustable in length, transforming a static structure into a dynamic one. This allows the brace to adapt to different user arm lengths while the individual components can be manufactured with standard dimensions, maintaining manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The length of the extensible element can be changed to accommodate different user sizes and preferences. This parameter adjustment allows the same brace design to fit multiple users with different arm lengths without requiring custom manufacturing for each user.
3Reliability
If the brace completely surrounds the forearm, then the stability and support are improved, but the harmful factors such as restricted blood flow and muscular compression increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the intermediate support structure that would contact and surround the forearm. By eliminating this component, the design avoids the harmful effects of restricting blood flow and muscular movement while maintaining stability through the upper arm and hand attachment points connected by the extensible element.
Solution Approach 2:
The brace is segmented to attach only at the upper arm and hand, leaving the forearm completely free. This segmentation allows the device to provide necessary support for tremor reduction without imposing harmful constraints on the forearm's blood flow and muscular function.
Data Source
AI summary
A body wearable brace, e.g. for resisting involuntary motion, adapted for allowing a user wearing the brace on his arm to dynamically move his or her upper arm, forearm, wrist and hand, comprising: an upper arm piece; a hand piece; an elbow flexion-extension joint that is rotatable relative to the upper arm piece around a first axis of rotation; a forearm pronation-supination joint that is rotatable relative to the forearm pronation-supination joint and the elbow flexion-extension joint around a second axis of rotation; an extension element extendable in a longitudinal direction; a wrist flexion-extension joint that is rotatable around a third axis of rotation. A first portion of the wrist flexion-extension joint is directly or indirectly connected to the extension element, and a second portion of the wrist flexion-extension joint is directly or indirectly connected to the hand piece.