Browsing by Author "Heunis, Christoff M."

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    Design, construction and analysis of an alternative stroke rehabilitation device based on the principels of neuroplasticity
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Heunis, Christoff M.; Fourie, Pieter Rousseau; Van der Merwe, Johan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRAST: The use of robotics in post-stroke patient rehabilitation and research has increased substantially during the last two decades. However, it has also led to important social and economic concerns, as the number of patients in developing countries that can afford the expensive outpatient rehabilitation, and therefore be treated, are limited. Not much is known about alternative lowcost rehabilitation devices. The motivation behind this thesis is to eventually address two of the most prominent limiting complications in stroke recovery programs, which are the time available for patient engagement, and the cost for outpatient rehabilitation. It presents the experimental design, construction, and analysis of a prototype stroke rehabilitation device, based on the principles of sensory stimulation therapy and neuroplasticity. The main objective of this project was to come to the conclusion whether it is possible to sense different electrobiological potentials in the brain during discrete events, from the constructed wearable sensory feedback device. The device is experimentally tested through the implementation of a case-control observational Event-Related Potential (ERP) study on healthy test subjects. The experimental results demonstrate the detection of cognitive and sensory-motor brain activity in response to, and in anticipation of, a somatic sensation. Electroencephalography (EEG) data is analyzed and decomposed to replicate three different ERPs, namely the P200 exogenous-sensory and -visual component, and the P300 endogenous component. The statistical analysis results indicate that a definite correlation is found between the Visual vs. P200 (F = 1.274, p = 0.28535) and the P200 vs. P300 (F = 64.253; p < 0.001) components when compared to previous ERP studies. The present evidence supports the use of mechanical-assisted therapy and indicates that potentially cost saving alternative rehabilitation techniques are possible in their use of providing sensory feedback, and recording and analyzing EEG feedback.