A Haptic Sleeve as a Method of Mechanotactile Feedback Restoration for Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis Users.

The study tested eight able-bodied volunteers, not amputees, because pandemic restrictions made amputee recruitment impossible. Able-bodied participants retained intact proprioception, so they could sense hand position even when blindfolded, which may have improved their performance compared with amputees. The task was grasping a plastic cup with a one-degree-of-freedom myoelectric hand mounted on a table, rather than a wider range of manipulative tasks. The repetitions were 10 seconds each, and the study did not assess long-term use or the learning curve. The sample size was calculated from preliminary data from the first four participants, and the device was a non-portable prototype. The primary outcome analysis was not significant across feedback conditions for the weak grasp task, although a further comparison with vision plus haptic feedback was significant.

The study was funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences through a Starter Grant for Clinical Lecturers to the corresponding author. The prototype was manufactured by Koalaa Prostheses, but the authors declared no commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that this haptic sleeve will improve prosthetic use for amputees. It was tested only in eight able-bodied volunteers operating a myoelectric hand mounted on a table, and the authors state generalisability to amputees is compromised.