Biofeedback Analysis in Upper Limb Prostheses: A Literature Review

Despite the expressive number of amputees in Brazil, the assistive technology that involves these groups is still shallow, especially when it comes to prostheses. The importance of the sense of touch is unquestionable, but its applications in prostheses are scarce, which leads to a considerable rate of prostheses’ rejection. Thus, inspired by the biological systems and with the goal of supplying the needs of conventional prostheses, the tactile biofeedback prosthesis appears, a prosthesis integrated with sensors that enable the perception of touch. These prostheses provide a more realistic experience, helping in control and adjustment of forces, in recognition of objects and in proprioception. It is clear the relevance of studying prostheses more adaptable and the need to develop strategies capable of providing efficient tactile feedback. The present work aims to analyze different approaches to the technology of sensorized prostheses. And, through scientific subsidies achieved by the PICO methodology, study the efficiency of prostheses, in order to improve the quality of life of users. The scientific research addressed in this work was accomplished through combinations of some keywords on the PubMed, Dimensions, IEEE Xplore, Embase, Scopus and ScienceDirect platforms, and 09 articles were selected. These articles were arranged in a table and analyzed in order to answer the initial question: What is the efficacy of the prosthesis with sensory feedback in providing sensations and improving the quality of life, in comparison to traditional prostheses? After exploring these studies, the results, in general, proved the success of techniques for providing sensory feedback.