Design and development of the first exoskeletal garment to enhance arm mobility for children with movement impairments.
Martha L Hall, Michele A Lobo
PMID 28541832WHAT IT FOUND
A soft exoskeletal garment was designed for one child with arthrogryposis to lift his arms.
It cost $10 in materials and allowed 90-degree arm lift without blocking other shoulder movement. Parents found it easy to use but initially wanted it to look more like normal clothing.
Key findings
01The final garment design allowed the child to lift his arms to 90 degrees of shoulder flexion without restricting other shoulder movements.
02The cost of materials for the refined prototype was reduced to $10.00, and an open-access do-it-yourself manual was created to improve accessibility.
03User feedback drove iterative design changes, including replacing snaps with a zipper and switching to a breathable, customizable fabric to improve aesthetics and ease of use.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study involves only one child and his parents, so findings cannot be generalized to other children with different diagnoses or body types. The paper describes the design and testing process but does not present quantitative clinical outcome data on function or developmental gains; those results are referenced from a separate publication. The device requires custom fitting and skilled labor to construct, which may limit its practicality for widespread adoption despite the low material cost. Long-term durability and the effectiveness of the device as a rehabilitative tool for building strength over time were not tested in this study.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.). No other conflicts of interest are declared in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret this paper as evidence that the Playskin Lift improves clinical outcomes or developmental progress. It reports on the engineering design and usability testing of a prototype for one child, not a clinical trial of efficacy. Functional improvements are mentioned only as a reference to other work.