new hand device helps the hand grasp and release objects

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Israeli-made device helps restore use of paralyzed hands (picture at

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By Brinn and Sharon Kanon November 21, 2004

The brace-like device with built-in electrodes helps the hand grasp and

release objects.

Stroke sufferers or victims of a spinal cord injury often lose partial

use of their hands. As a result, they can spend agonizing months in

rehabilitation, attempting to perform simple tasks like lifting and

carrying objects, drawing, writing and personal grooming.

Now a powerful device developed in Israel which can restore the use of a

partially paralyzed hand due to neurological damage is available to the

millions of American who have suffered a stroke and are going through

the rehab process.

The NESS-H200 was developed by an Israeli firm, Neuromuscular Electrical

Stimulation Systems Ltd. (NESS), to treat impairment of the hand and

shoulder from stroke or spinal cord injury and to relieve complications

such as swelling and the painful contraction or atrophy of muscles.

A brace-like device fits snugly over the forearm and hand, with built-in

electrodes touching key muscles. It's connected to a portable unit

easily operated by the patient that may be set in different modes, to

exercise the hand by shocking the muscles to open and close the fingers

and to help the hand grasp and release objects.

" It improves the quality of daily living, " said , the

founder of NESS Ltd. NESS is an acronym for Neuromuscular Electric

Stimulation Systems. And in Hebrew, 'ness' means miracle, which is the

way many people feel about their enhanced manual abilities gained by

using the compact device.

An associate professor of biomedical engineering in Ben-Gurion

University's department of mechanical engineering, 's research in

electrical stimulation of the neuromuscular tract led to the development

of the device.

" It works through the nerve/muscle junction, the connecting point, " he

told ISRAEL21c. " Neuromuscular stimulation enhances physiological and

metabolic activity in the peripheral nerves, muscles, connective tissue,

and their blood supply. "

" Over half of the people who suffer a stroke have paralysis of the

hand, " said . Eighty percent suffer secondary complications after

a stroke, including a pain syndrome in the hand and shoulder, a

'psychological amputation' because of learned non-use, spasticity, poor

blood circulation, tissue shortening and further degeneration of the

limb.

The NESS H200 activates the muscles and reverses these secondary

complications preventing long-term disability. " It provides regular

exercise, like jogging, that can restore the limb to healthier

function, " said . " Sometimes a person can recover residual

movements and gain spontaneous use of the hand. "

The NESS H200 has been successfully marketed as the Handmaster in Israel

and Holland for several years. It has been cleared by the FDA for

marketing and sales in the U.S.

According to NESS researcher Amit Dar, the device had been tested

extensively in Israel and the U.S.

" In Israel it was tested at the Lowenstein Rehabilitation Center and at

Tel Hashomer in the Sheba Medical Center. In the U.S, we tested the

device at the Kernan Rehabilitation Center in Baltimore, " he told

ISRAEL21c.

Approved in 2001 for functional use by the FDA, the NESS-H200 is now

available in some U.S. rehab centers, and will become available in even

more centers in both the U.S. and Canada over the next year. " It is sold

through rehabilitation centers that are trained in using it, " said Dar.

Dr. Gad Alon, a pioneer in stroke therapy and an associate professor at

the University of land School of Medicine in Baltimore, was

responsible for testing the NESS-H200 at the university's Kernan center.

In one of several papers, Alon and other researchers concluded in 2002

that the NESS H200 " is a safe and effective, noninvasive

neuro-prosthesis for improving hand functions and impairments in

selected persons with chronic hemiplegia [paralysis] secondary to

stroke. "

Last year, in a study that included 77 patients, some of whom had had

strokes more than three years earlier, Alon and other researchers

reported that " five weeks of daily home training using [the NESS H200]

with a task-specific stimulation program is likely to improve hand

functions and upper limb impairments " from stroke.

Melville, New York resident Saul Friedman participated in the clinical

trials for the NESS-H200, and wrote about the experience for Newsday in

Long Island.

" Whether the device, or the exercises or spontaneous recovery was

responsible, I cannot say for certain. But after 12 weeks of

electrotherapy and exercise, my hand remained open instead of becoming

clenched. The blood flow in my arm increased, and serious swelling

disappeared. In videotaped tests, I did increasingly well at moving

blocks and empty cans from one place to another. Now, with exercise

only, the hand function has continued to improve. "

Shmulik Shany, CEO of NESS, notes that $1 million worth of orders have

already been closed in North America, adding that the NESS H200 has been

recognized in the Netherlands as a standard of care for post-stroke

patients, and negotiations are now underway for a similar recognition by

North American health-insurance firms.

The company lists & and Dow among its shareholders, and

NESS recently set up a joint venture with Alfred Mann, the Alfred Mann

Foundation and Advanced Bionics Inc., forming a new U.S. company,

BIONESS, located in California.