Start-up gets backing for stroke rehab tool

Queensland start-up SMART Arm has secured investment funding to launch a new device for helping stroke victims with upper limb weakness recover lost functionality.

SMART Arm is the latest start-up from UniQuest, the university commercialisation outfit founded by the University of Queensland.

The company has now secured the financial aid of Townsville Mackay Medicare Local (TMML), a non-profit body with members including healthcare professionals and organisations from the region.

Terms of the investment agreement were not disclosed. But the company said the arrangement will allow it to accelerate the SMART Arm manufacture process, and that it may have units available for distribution within 12 months.

SMART Arm is a portable, non-robotic technology designed to be used in the rehabilitation process for stroke survivors with upper limb weakness.

SMART stands for sensory-motor active rehabilitation training. A key advantage of the product is that patients may use it independently, and therefore drive their own rehabilitation process.

The device is tied to a computer program which measures improvements, and also provides feedback and incremental goals.

The SMART Arm is based on stroke rehabilitation research and development from James Cook University and the University of Queensland.

SMART Arm's efficacy is backed up by clinical data demonstrating improvements in arm function, arm muscle activation and neural plasticity.