A Healthcare Wearable for Chronic Pain Management. Design of a Smart Glove for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Chronic diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis affect everyday life of people at multiple scales and require continuous medications and physical therapy for alleviating the symptoms. Wearable technologies offer promising benefits in management of chronic diseases with at home rehabilitation possibilities. This research explored the design process of an e-textile based smart glove that can be used by Rheumatoid Arthritis patients in home environment to reduce pain by applying electrical stimulation therapy and limit hand deformities with textile based splint structures. The whole design process was carried out in close collaboration with medical professionals and sufferers of the disease through iterative prototyping and testing. The multi-disciplinary nature of the smart glove development required a framework for design research covering medical and physiological considerations, textile and electronics technology, and manufacturing methods. The implementation of the design required comfort characterization tests for textiles, electrical characterization tests for e-textile structures and clinical trials.

Is Wearable Technology Becoming Part of Us? Developing and Validating a Measurement Scale for Wearable Technology Embodiment

“…Other devices that serve this purpose include smart textiles, tattoos, and jewelry. Next to these kind of wearables, the developed measurement instrument also could be applied to user-centered disease monitoring wearable devices such as wearable cameras that enhance chronic disease self-management [87], insulin monitors and pumps in the treatment of diabetes [19], smart gloves that assist rheumatoid arthritis patients in applying therapy [88], and medical-grade electrocardiogram wristwatches that assist cardiac patients to detect heart arrhythmia [89]. Furthermore, although our inquiry did not focus on care provider centered wearables, it seems logical that the measurement instrument could apply to wearable aids that are used during medical procedures such as Google glasses in surgery [28].…”

Challenges in Design and Fabrication of Flexible/Stretchable Carbon- and Textile-Based Wearable Sensors for Health Monitoring: A Critical Review

“…In addition to weaving and knitting technologies, the embroidering method has been used to demonstrate textile-based wearable sensors [ 122 , 123 ]. In particular, textile-based radio-frequency (RF) applications made of silver-coated conductive fibers on the polyester fabric was demonstrated using the embroidering process.…”

“…( e ) PU/PEDOT:PSS fibers co-knitted with a commercial Spandex yarn using knitting method (reproduced with permission [ 121 ] copyright 2015, American Chemical Society). ( f ) Textile-based smart gloves realized by the embroidering method (reproduced with permission [ 122 ] copyright 2017, Informa UK Limited). Printing process; ( g ) schematics of the fabrication process of brush-painted PEDOD:PSS electrode on knitted fabrics using PDMS-made stencil (reproduced with permission [ 125 ] copyright 2015, Nature Publishing Group).…”

Comparing apples and oranges or different types of citrus fruits? Using wearable versus stationary devices to analyze psychophysiological data

“…Recent technological advances led to the creation of new wearable devices. Wearable devices are technological devices that can be worn on the human body as accessories or incorporated into clothing, and are able to measure psychophysiological signals anywhere and anytime (Goncu‐berk & Topcuoglu, ). Specifically, wearable devices can measure physiological signals such as heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), respiration rate, skin, and body temperature, electrodermal activity (EDA), galvanic skin response (GSR), electroencephalogram (Taj‐Eldin, Ryan, O’flynn, & Galvin, ), etc.…”