NeuroGripper is a breakthough in affordable hand-training devices for stroke survivors. It is an innovative aluminium hand gripper device which relies on the use of elasticity to tackle the effects of spasticity. NeuroGripper is not a 'gripper' like the ones you may have heard of (the plastic ones that work the crushing grip'. This one is special. It works in almost the opposite way. The new device incrementally works the extensors (the muscles which pull the fingers out of a fist), especially if you have no extensor movement at all or your hand is held strongly in a fist.

Designed especially for stroke survivors as a result of a year-long trial and experimentation process by Dr Tom Balchin and David Horne, a professional grip strength specialist in Staffordshire, the aim was to create a grip machine that would actively target the extensors. We think we have succeeded. Based on the successful coil spring-loaded Vulcan gripper created by David in 2007, now used by grip-strength trainers across the world to train the crushing/ squeezing grip, the new NeuroGripper is a lightweight gripper version which has been adapted for stroke.

Why use NeuroGripper?

Stretching keeps musles 'long', which is very important, but it won’t do much for long-term neuroplastic change. This is because spasticity is a brain problem, not a muscle problem, as you should have found out already through noting the approach taken in by ARNI. But anything that extends the time between the hand contracting into a fist whilst on-task is a key weapon for your armoury.

Many techniques taught to ARNI instructors rely on them showing you how to use slight assists for your good hand whilst performing the various exercises in order to keep the whole task going. So, keeping the finger extensor muscles long, and extending the time possible to work with your hands performing a task is a good thing. Flexion (the clamping of the hand into a fist), if the fingers of your more-affected hand are clamped into spasticity, is much easier than extending your fingers again. Releasing the fingers from contracture, especially if you are making an effort to grasp and release a tool, for instance, is much more difficult. Neurogripper helps you to do this, progressively and safely.

The padded handle (included, but perhaps not necessary for you), ensures that you do not trap your finger-tips as you flex your hand into a fist before releasing with the aid of the elastic.

OrbiGrip is an innovative solid state rotational device designed by David Horne(a professional grip strength specialist in Staffordshire) which is held in both hands and rotated for as long as you can.

There is no doubt that prolonged repetition of a controlled movement is a promising way of increasing the intensity of rehabilitation after stroke. In this way, the OrbiGrip initiates, maintains and stimulates muscle, tendon and ligament growth.

OrbiGrip - £56.99

A loading pin (one of the vertical handles) sits upon a spinning bearing. This creates a centrifugal effect and forces you to hang on hard to keep the rotations of the opposing loading pin spinning smoothly.

Working the OrbiGrip requires stroke survivors to grasp and release a handle (a task in itself), then clamp the less affected hand over the more aftered hand, and rotate a weight (usually the weight of the device itself) in a controlled manner.

So why use this for stroke rehabilitation? When the affected hand has no functional movement, therapy is often passive movements. But any stroke survivor who had tried to think up ways to strengthen their arms if they have drop-shoulder (subluxation) and their hand is held in high tone, will know the problem of trying to regain strength.

Do you do pull-ups? No, because it's no good for the shoulder, nor are pull downs with pulleys. Trying to do press-ups with fingers that clamp into the palm when effort is made, is not a basis for progressive training, although strategies such as using press-up bars can be used to get round this problem. With the OrbiGrip, however, you can work your hand, wrist, forearm, bicep and shoulder. It taxes the shoulder joint but in a very small range of motion. This small amount of mobility has a very positive effect on those little muscles that support the shoulder joint.

The Mirror Box is a tool that you the stroke survivor can use to make neuroplasticity work for you via intense mental simulation. Designed originally for those suffering from phantom limb pain, it has been found that imagining movement of arms and legs that have been weakened from stroke can facilitate functional recovery of affected limbs.

You simply place your more affected hand and practice conducting symmetrical movements within the mirror box. The brain sees the more affected limb as normal: the idea is that you are 'tricking' it into brain into thinking the you are moving your more affected hand in the same way as you less affected hand.

This folding Mirror Box is designed by Reflex Pain Management Ltd., and is the best one we have seen because it can collapse to the width of a standard A4 folder, and expand to allow a Burmese cat to hide inside! This portabilty helps you to continue your therapy anywhere you go.

ARNI Mirror Box- £23.99 (same price as from RPM Ltd)

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