Touch Sequence Mat Rehabilitation System

Abstract

A flexible touch sequence mat for rehabilitating patients having mobility, functional, coordination and cognitive issues stemming from neurological damage or disorder is disclosed. The touch sequence mat includes a function region with pressure sensors collecting spatial, temporal and magnitude pressure information when a patient is performing prescribed exercises.

1 . A touch sequence pressure mat for rehabilitating a patient with mobility, function, coordination and cognitive issues due to neurological damage or disorder comprising:
 a flexible mat having top and bottom mat surfaces, wherein the mat includes a functional region configured with pressure sensors for sensing pressure when the patient is performing prescribed exercises on the mat; and   a control module disposed on a controller region of the top mat surface, the control module is configured to provide power to the pressure sensors and to receive pressure information from the pressure sensors when the patient is performing the prescribed exercises on the mat.   
     
     
         2 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 1  wherein the control module is configured to connect to an external processing system which controls the operations of the touch sequence pressure mat. 
     
     
         3 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 2  wherein the control module is configured to transfer pressure information from the pressure sensors to the external processing system. 
     
     
         4 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 2  wherein the prescribed exercises are displayed on a display of the external processing system for the patient to follow to perform the prescribed exercises. 
     
     
         5 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 1  comprises a plurality of functional regions. 
     
     
         6 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 1  comprises four functional regions arranged in a 2×2 matrix. 
     
     
         7 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 6  wherein the four functional regions are individually controllable functional regions. 
     
     
         8 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 1  wherein the pressure information comprises spatial, temporal and magnitude pressure information of the patient performing the prescribed exercise. 
     
     
         9 . The touch sequence pressure mat of  claim 6  wherein:
 the flexible mat with the four function regions comprises a foldable mat along functional region streets separating the four functional regions; and 
 the functional mat is capable of folding twice to reduce a footprint of the mat by almost about ¼. 
 
     
     
         10 . A method of rehabilitating a patient with mobility, function, coordination and cognitive issues due to neurological damage or disorder comprising:
 providing a touch sequence mat comprising
 a flexible mat having top and bottom mat surfaces, wherein the mat includes a functional region configured with pressure sensors for sensing pressure when the patient is performing prescribed exercises on the mat, and 
 a control module disposed on a controller region of the top mat surface, the control module is configured to provide power to the pressure sensors and to receive pressure information from the pressure sensors; 
   performing an activity of daily living (ADL) on the touch sequence mat by the patient;   generating a compensation map with spatial, temporal and magnitude pressure information of the patient performing the ADL;   analyzing the pressure information to identify compensation by the patient when performing the ADL; and   prescribing a set of prescribed exercises for the patient to perform to correct for the compensation identified by analyzing the pressure information.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein:
 performing the prescribed exercises are performed on the touch sequence mat; and 
 collecting spatial, temporal and magnitude pressure information of the patient performing the prescribed exercises. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  wherein providing the touch sequence mat comprises:
 providing a touch sequence mat set comprising touch sequence mats to be placed on a chair, including a backrest, a seat, armrests and at a foot of the chair; and 
 performing the ADL which comprises the patient performing the prescribed exercises on the chair with the touch sequence mats. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  wherein;
 the touch sequence mat is disposed on a top surface of a table; and 
 performing the ADL which comprises the patient moving an affected arm. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the touch sequence mat comprises four functional regions with pressure sensors separated by functional region streets, the four functional regions are arranged in a 2×2 matrix. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  comprises folding the touch sequence mat twice along the functional region streets to reduce a footprint of the touch sequence mat to almost about ¼. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the prescribed exercises comprise gaming exercises. 
     
     
         17 . A method for forming a touch sequence mat comprising:
 providing a flexible base mat layer, a rigid support layer, a flexible pressure sensor layer and a flexible top mat layer, wherein
 the flexible pressure sensor layer includes a pressure sensor connector portion with a pressure sensor connector, and 
 the top mat layer includes a top surface cut out opening in a controller region of the top surface layer; 
   bonding the rigid support layer onto the flexible base mat layer;   bonding the flexible pressure sensor layer onto the rigid support layer, wherein the flexible base mat layer, the rigid support layer and the flexible pressure sensor layer form a pressure sensor assembly for providing connections to the pressure sensors;   bonding the flexible top mat layer onto the pressure sensor assembly to form a mat stack, wherein the top surface cut out opening is configured to accommodate the pressure sensor connector portion with the pressure sensor connector;   pressing the mat stack, wherein pressing the mat stack transfers a rigid support layer pattern to a top surface of the flexible top mat layer; and   mounting a control housing with a control module printed circuit board with a printed circuit board connector onto the controller region of the top mat layer, wherein the pressure sensor connector is connected to the printed circuit board connector.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein:
 the rigid support layer comprises four rigid support sub-layers corresponding to four functional regions of the touch sequence mat with pressure sensors; 
 the rigid support sub-layers are arranged in a 2×2 matrix on the base layer to form the touch sequence mat with a 2×2 matrix of 4 functional regions; and 
 the touch sequence mat is configured to fold along functional region streets separating the four functional regions to reduce a footprint of the mat by almost about ¼.