Proposta de método para a concepção e fabricação de produtos para tecnologia assistiva com estudo de caso direcionado a esclerose lateral amiotrófica

Abstract

The population of the elderly aged 60 years or more in Ceará increased by 61% in ten years, according to data from the 2010 Census, the age group is 1,063 million people. With the aging of the population of Ceará, the number of people with chronic and disabling diseases has increased significantly. According to the PNS (National Health Survey), 40% of the Brazilian adult population, equivalent to 57.4 million people, has at least one non-transmissible conical disease. The Home Care Program of Waldemar de Alcântara General Hospital works closely with this public and has integrated in some projects a development team whose objective was to unite the knowledge of mechanical, product, ergonomics and biomechanical designs to the already used clinical knowledge and to provide, Thus, personalized solutions and a better quality of life for the patients served by the program. In order to maximize this integration, a methodology was proposed that synthesized all the knowledge involved. This paper approaches the methodology proposed for the development of the products through this partnership and presents a case study in a patient suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The patient's focus has been suffering from the disease for almost five years and has lost the ability to support the head due to the progressive loss of muscular strength that the disease provides. The proposed method for the design of the product to which the case study deals aims to create an adaptation for the removal of the weight of the head exerted on the neck muscles, making possible the lateral circular movements. For validation, we evaluated the design capacity of the proposed method from the analyzes, to the evaluation processes of the product. In the case study the obtained results show that the exchange of the old apparatus by the proposed solution is not only technically feasible, but also necessary, given the analyzes. The use of the new product brought an improvement in product satisfaction of 180% more than the previous adaptation of 193% in relation to its use and is therefore better accepted by the user.