Our client is a man who had a CVA. He is partly paralysed in his left arm and hand. He is still training to get better in rehabilitation. At the moment we met him, he couldn't lift his arm, couldn't flex his fingers and couldn't grab something.

He always played the guitar, and his wish was to play again. The problems caused him to not be able to even hold the guitar. So we made an Orfit brace for his hand and a band to hold his arm up in a ergonomic way.

You can find all prototype fases and test procedures (video's) in the blog (in dutch): https://gitaarhulp2019.blogspot.com/

Supplies

For the brace:

- Orfit Thermoplastic
- Hook and loop velcro
- Firelighter
- Hot water
- Glue
- Scissors

For the shoulder band

- Belt
- Belt buckle
- An old piece of clothes (strong textile)
- A small belt (from a backpack)
- Scissors
- A jeans button

Step 1: The Brace

The brace is made out of orfit.
You can see he technique in this video:

First step: Making measurements

- Make sure u measure big, u can always cut extra but u can't glue togheter again.
- Also make sure u make it in the right handposition
- We measured by using a piece of paper on which we drew the sjablone we needed.

Second step: Warm up and use it

- You can see the process in the video.
- You have to work very fast, because it cools down fast.
- Some orfit materials are sticky, be aware of that.

Third step: finish it

- Make sure you got no sharp ends. You can warm the sides up to make them soft.
- Put the velcro on it the way you want it. Make sure that you first make the orfit surface harshe. Otherwise the velcro won't stick to it. Heat the orfit up, put the velcro on it and push it in the orfit.

Step 2: The Shoulder Band

Step 1: Cut 2 pieces of textile to fit on the shoulder.

Step 2: Cut the belt on the right sizes, depends on the height of the person. Keep on measuring on the person before you cut the belt in 2.

Step 3: Sew the belt on the right spots on one of the textile pads.

Step 4: Sew the other textile pad on the pad with belt to cover the belt.

Step 5: One piece of your belt is in a loop. Sew the end togheter.

Step 6: Make a hole in the sewed end of the loop and put the pin of the button through it.

Step 7: Hammer the button on the pin.

Step 8: Take the small belt and make it like a bracelet as you see on the picture.

Step 9: Cut holes in the small belt the size of the button. Make sure you burn the sides of the hole. Where you put the holes depends on how high you want to hold the arm of the person. We made here 5 holes, so we are able to change the position if needed.