It is shockingly easy to sustain a hand or finger injury that may require physical therapy at some point in your life. We use our hands for everything from preparing our meals to carrying heavy objects, and everything in between.

Because our hands see such frequent and varied use, there are many ways one’s hand could sustain an injury serious enough to necessitate medical attention. Additionally, many people are born with or develop hand or arm issues that require some form of physical therapy. For those needing the latest in rehabilitative protocols for therapy or recovery, qualified professional medical service providers like Florida’s Brooks Rehabilitation offer a variety of treatment options, including robotic therapy incorporating Tyromotion’s AMADEO technology.

Breakthrough Robotic Therapy with AMDADEO

The human hand has always been an incredibly challenging part of the body to treat from a medical perspective. Individuals can sustain all types of hand or finger injuries rather easily, but they are such a delicate part of the body that it’s always challenging to work on fingers or hands without running the risk of doing more damage to them.

The AMADEO robotics system, designed by medical technology developer Tyromotion, is one of the breakthroughs the medical community has been waiting for. The AMADEO system is powerful enough to recognize and track how each patient is progressing in their treatment, and what it needs to do to keep them encouraged and moving forward in their therapy and recovery. AMADEO may be a robot, but it is able to detect progress and offer encouragement to patients. A commitment to engage in one’s recovery is every bit as important as the treatment itself, and AMADEO’s interactive, “gamified” approach to physical therapy provides both motivation and goals.

How does AMADEO work?

When working on an arm injury recovery project or finger rehabilitation, the AMADEO device is an excellent choice simply because it is among the most cutting-edge technology the medical world has available today to address these types of injuries and issues.

A patient who uses the AMADEO system as part of their treatment will find that this technology is designed to help them get the most out of their treatment by employing effective therapeutic protocols proven to be helpful to people trying to recover from a hand or arm injury.

The system begins by running a range-of-motion test on the new patient to determine how much flexibility and range persists at the outset of therapeutic treatment. The purpose of this test is to see precisely how much work there is to do. The AMADEO is designed to ensure that each patient receives the treatment program they need, creating the most productive plan of action for the individual based on the data it collects.

The patient will place their injured arm and/or fingers into the AMADEO machine to experience their treatments, which may range from sensitivity training (determining how much feeling is left in the arm/finger) to playing video games that are optimized to rebuild the range of motion in the patient’s hands and fingers. This sort of goal-oriented play-as-therapy has been proven highly effective in physical therapy, as well as in other medical and educational fields.

AMADEO’s sleeve and sensors are capable of fine-tuning the intensity of a patient’s treatment while providing continuous feedback for their therapist, and offers a variety of modes (passive, assistive and active) based on the patient’s current strength and abilities. It’s no side effect of the therapy that patients may feel challenged by their AMADEO program. The AMADEO system is designed to push them to see how far they can go within the limits of their current abilities. It will not injure them further, but rather provides patients with treatment goals that offer optimum opportunities for recovery, often at a faster pace than older, more traditional rehabilitative therapy protocols.

Robotics in Physical Therapy

We are seeing an uptick in the use of robotics in physical therapy, as the medical community now understands better than ever how robotics can assist human doctors and nurses in treating patients. These systems not only act as exercise machines for physical therapy, but also provide doctors and clinicians with vital feedback and statistics on their patients, often in real time, that would be unavailable through classic physical therapy protocols. Robotic technologies such as AMADEO collect and deliver this information, so medical personnel are able to review the data to determine the best course of action.

Virtual Reality in Physical Therapy

Yet another area where AMADEO is helping to innovate in the field of physical therapy is through the incorporation of virtual reality (VR). It turns out that virtual reality is not just for creating entertaining video games or consuming social media experiences — can also be used to help treat patients who have experienced a variety of problems, including hand or finger injury, as well as congenital deficits or neurological issues.

Many of the exercises that AMADEO puts patients through have a VR component to them. The reason for this is simple: The virtual reality that patients enter when they use the AMADEO system allows them to play simple, entertaining and rewarding games. What the patient is actually doing is working through a number of needed physical-therapy exercises that can help them treat their injured fingers/arms, but it all just feels like “fun and games” to them.

Most patients understand that they are receiving treatment while playing these games (though some small children may not realize it), but they still enjoy it, because they are simultaneously distracted by and engaged in the fun of the game, and they don’t have to think about the efforts that they are making to get healthy.

Features of AMADEO

The AMADEO robotic physical therapy system consists of an arm support sleeve, finger grips and sensors attached to a movable workstation and monitor. The arm support is fully adjustable to accommodate adults and children of all sizes. The system can be set up quickly for each patient, and is designed to incorporate Electromyography (EMG) technology to measure and stimulate patients’ nerve and muscle responses.

This state-of-the-art equipment is paired with software created to engage the patient and promote optimal outcomes through the use of goal-oriented games. Patients of all ages become involved in achieving these games’ objectives, immersing themselves in their treatment while they play.

Qualifications of AMADEO

The AMADEO system will not be right for every patient, but many individuals who have suffered hand and finger injuries or disabilities can benefit from it. There isn’t a strict set of qualifications that one must meet in order to use the AMADEO system, but a patient’s doctors will consider their personal medical history to determine whether or not they are a candidate for this type of physical therapy.

Injury types that often qualify a candidate for use of the AMADEO system include car accident injuries, workplace injuries, and any arm or hand injury that precludes a patient from doing their normal work and daily routines. Additionally, those who are born with finger or arm disabilities or certain neurological issues may benefit from a therapeutic program that includes the use of the AMADEO system.

Contact Brooks Rehabilitation today for a consultation, or to learn more about AMADEO robotic physical therapy or any of our other technologies and services. Based in the Jackson, Florida area, Brooks Rehab is committed to restoring your quality of life.