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DressMates

Dressing Aid for Arthrogryposis Patients

 

Member profile details

Membership level
2011-2012 Team
Team Name
DressMates
Project Title
Dressing Aid for Arthrogryposis Patients
Design Challenge
To create a device to help patients with arthrogryposis, a deformality of the joints that greatly weakens arm and hand movement, put on shirts, pants and socks in about a third of the time.
One of every 3,000 children in the United States is born with arthrogryposis, a condition in which they have limited or no use of certain muscles in their arms and/or legs, leading to reduced grip strength and range of motion. As such, a major problem is that patients cannot always dress independently or in clothes they want to wear. Often patients simply wriggle into over-sized, stretchy clothes, using nearby structures such as cabinets, desks, beds, etc. to help. The only commercially available tools to help them are wall hooks to hold clothes while the child wriggles in, and hand-held hooks to button and zip clothing. Some patients also use dressing equipment designed for arthritis patients. However, these designs do not significantly reduce dress time, and many patients lack the grip strength and range of motion necessary to use arthritis-designed button and zipper pulls. Our team will design a solution to help children with arthrogryposis get dressed independently. Our goal is to make an affordable device usable by patients with limited grip strength and range of motion to help them dress independently at home 50% faster than they can now.
Department(s)
  • Freshman Design
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Faculty Advisor 1 - Name
Kurt Kasper
Faculty Advisor 2 - Name
Sophie Xu

Contact us

Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen
Rice University

6100 Main Street MS 390 | Houston, Texas | 77005

Phone: 713.348.OEDK

Email: oedk@rice.edu

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