This paper presents research into a user-friendly electronic sleeve (e-sleeve) with integrated electrodes in an array for wearable healthcare. The electrode array was directly printed onto an everyday clothing fabric using screen printing. The fabric properties and designed structures of the e-sleeve were assessed and refined through interaction with end users. Different electrode array layouts were fabricated to optimize the user experience in terms of comfort, effectivity and ease of use. The e-sleeve uses dry electrodes to facilitate ease of use and the electrode array can survive bending a sufficient number of times to ensure an acceptable usage lifetime. Different cleaning methods (washing and wiping) have been identified to enable reuse of the e-sleeve after contamination during use. The application of the e-sleeve has been demonstrated via muscle stimulation on the upper limb to achieve functional tasks (e.g., hand opening, pointing) for eight stroke survivors.

Electrotherapy is a common therapeutic treatment used in pain relief. This paper presents the materials and fabrication methods used to manufacture an electrode textile for electrotherapy application. The Young’s modulus of the electrode is 0.22 MPa. The electrode textile consists of conductive tracks sandwiched between an interface layer and an encapsulation layer, and an electrode layer printed directly on top of the conductive grid patterns. The interface, conductive silver, and encapsulation layers were directly printed on fabric using screen printing. The electrode layer was printed using stencil printing. The electrode textile can survive 10,000 bending cycles around a cylinder with a diameter of 30 mm and 20 washes in a commercial washing machine.