Design of an ankle tele-rehabilitation device for use in daily life

Ankle rehabilitation devices can provide physical therapy intervention to improve physical impairments and restore normal function after an ankle injury, by effectively improving ankle movement and muscle strength, preventing muscle atrophy, and contributing to faster recovery times and better treatment outcomes. This thesis study aimed to design a home-based tele-rehabilitation device that is low-cost, easily portable, foldable, has two degrees of freedom to perform dorsal flexion, plantar flexion, inversion, and eversion movements, and will perform active therapeutic exercises (joint range of motion exercise, strengthening exercise, isotonic exercises). Four force sensors were used on the foot platform of the device to measure the forces occurring during dorsal flexion, plantar flexion, inversion and eversion movements. Angle information on the X, Y, Z axes was measured with the acceleration and gyroscope sensor placed on the device, and the measured values were collected. A spring system was used for the resistance force applicator against the force applied by the foot, and the resistance forces were easily adjusted manually according to 3 levels of difficulty. Communication was achieved via Bluetooth using the ATMega 2560 MCU Card, which allows wireless communication, to process the data obtained from the sensors used in the designed device in the user-friendly interface created. The entire mechanism functionality of the device, real-time sensor measurements, interface functionality, and feedback results based on measurement analysis were tested on 10 healthy participants. The promising results obtained have the potential to make a significant contribution to the field of ankle rehabilitation through the development of this low-cost, easily portable and versatile home-based tele-rehabilitation device. As a result, a low-cost, easily portable, foldable, two-degree-of-freedom ankle rehabilitation device has been proposed to assist in the rehabilitation of ankle joints and to increase movement and muscle strength in patients with ankle injuries or neurological diseases.