Development of a computer input device for patients with tetraplegia

It is necessary for medical staff members to evaluate the computer input ability of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) during the patients' rehabilitation. In this paper, we describe a system for measuring and evaluating the computer input ability of SCI patients. We measured the position locus of the mouse cursor when a patient operates a computer using a ball mouse. After this measurement, we calculated three time parameters to evaluate the computer input ability of the patient. In addition, we developed a new computer input device for patients, and showed by means of the three time parameters that this device was effective for some patients.