Manual dexterity is one of the toughest things to lose when a person’s had a stroke or spinal cord injury. Irvine-based startup Flint Rehabilitation Devices has developed a glove – called the MusicGlove – that can help people regain the ability to, say, open doorknobs or type on a keyboard again. And it’s a game!
Flint Rehabilitation Devices just received a $1.5 million, two-year NIH grant to commercialize and conduct clinical trials on the MusicGlove. $500,000 was awarded last year to help develop and distribute the device; this year’s million will go to a pair of clinical trials to study the MusicGlove’s efficacy in treating stroke and spinal cord injury patients.
The device consists of a sensorized glove that tracks a user’s hand movements – allowing the user to play a therapeutic, music-based game on a touchscreen console, tapping out specific movements to the rhythm of an upbeat song. Movements like a “pincer grip” and a “key pinch grip” can help patients regain motility in their hands after neural damage – and it’s all tracked by the MusicGlove. Here’s how it works:
The device is already being sold in two forms – a home version for $1,099 (or $99.95 per month for a year) and a clinic version for $4,199.
