Towards Tenodesis-Modulated Control of an Assistive Hand Exoskeleton for SCI

A Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) can have life-altering consequences, and with an estimated 18,000 yearly cases in the US, the societal impact cannot be overstated [1]. SCI often results in partial or complete sensorimotor loss in the arms and body, leading to limited independence. As such, restoration of hand function is one of the highest priorities for SCI populations [2]. Many individuals with C6-C7 SCI have preserved wrist mobility and use tenodesis to grasp. Tenodesis can achieve some degree of lateral pinch and grasp by exploiting the Figure 1: MyHand-SCI assists finger flexion for grasping without passive finger flexion that occurs when the wrist is extended.