Design of a Wearable Bilateral Exoskeleton for Stroke Treatment in a Home Environment

With over 100,000 people suffering from a stroke every year and 38,000 deaths, it is a leading cause of death and disability in the UK [1]. Due to this, the number of new and existing patients that require access to physiotherapy is growing rapidly. There are currently 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK, with two thirds of them leaving hospital with a disability [1]. This leads to an estimated cost of £26 billion a year; and with the average age of someone having a stroke decreasing, and the survival rate after stroke increasing; this number is only going to increase [1]. It is suggested that the number of stroke survivors living with a disability will increase by a third by the year 2035 [1]. With such a large increase in patients requiring care after stroke, rehabilitation will need to adapt in order for patients to continue receiving a high calibre of care.