Empowering Design Attributes for Body-Worn Rehabilitation Devices. A Case Study: From a Shoulder Support for Women to Shoulderwear

Empowerment is an important approach in physiotherapy, and is shown to have many benefits for clients in their rehabilitation process. This thesis considers whether the concept of empowerment can be extended from physiotherapy to the design of body-worn rehabilitation products. This study reviews current developments in the design of rehabilitation products as well as design theories that relate to empowerment. A research probe was conducted in order to understand if body-worn or carried artifacts are understood by wearers to impart a sense of empowerment, and what specific design attributes might most effectively convey empowerment. Findings were analyzed and documented as empowerment principles. A case study was developed to explore the application of these empowerment principles to the design of a shoulder support for women. This case study includes functional development through biomimetic design in order to determine baseline functional specifications. In the development of the product, research findings influenced the design such that it evolved from the conventional rehabilitation approach of “shoulder support” to a collection of concepts for Shoulderwear. This thesis demonstrates that feeling empowered is important to wearers of rehabilitation products, and that empowerment guidelines can be successfully applied to design artifacts.