An Active Neck Brace Controlled By A Joystick To Assist Head Motion

Dropped head syndrome is often seen in patients with neurological disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Static collars are often prescribed to these patients to support their head. These collars support the head in one position but do not allow motion to the head. In this letter, we present a novel active neck brace to address this issue and provide assistance to the patients to improve their neck range of motion. This brace has three degrees-of-freedom and allows improved range of motion to the head and neck. We have developed a joystick interface for this brace to allow the user to carry out their intended head rotation with assistance of the brace. In order to assess the feasibility of the use of this brace, we present a study that recruited eight healthy subjects. We simultaneously recorded the motion of the head, electromyography of the neck muscles, and force/torque applied through the brace to the head. The results show that the brace provides support to the head and subjects activate their muscles less when assisted by the brace using the joystick.