Development of flexible pneumatic rehabilitation actuator for knee injury

Abstract

McKibben muscle actuator or pneumatic muscle has been introduced for many decades. Only by filling with the compressed pneumatic air, the McKibben muscle actuator can generate the contraction force. In other hand, one of the injuries that involves rehabilitation is anterior cruciate ligament tear, either completely or partially torn. Rehabilitation is one of the procedures or treatments for anterior cruciate ligament patients to reduce the time of their healing and to restore joint movement and muscle strength. Besides, in hospitals, the use of soft actuators for knee rehabilitation processes is still lacking. Generally, recovery devices either in hospitals or in rehabilitation centers use iron and steels that are uncomfortable and hard for patients to use. Therefore, in this paper, the rehabilitation device that is comfortable and lightweight based on the application of McKibben artificial muscle and pneumatic soft actuators is proposed and presented. The patient should wear a recovery device with an accelerometer sensor attached to it while performing basic movements of the knee during recovery. From the experimental results and the data from the accelerometer, it is trusted that the rehabilitation device can help the recovery process and offers more data than regular technique to help patients perform normal knee movements.