GripAble Panel Review

GripAble is a hand-held exercise tool aimed at training hand and arm functions for people with neurological and orthopaedic conditions. It works with an accompanying gaming app.

Launched in 2020, GripAble was originally developed by neuroscientist Dr Paul Rinne to help stroke patients with their rehabilitation. While carrying out his PhD at Imperial College London, Dr Rinne was working closely with therapy teams on stroke wards, where the need for an accessible mobile opportunity for patients undergoing physical and occupational therapy became clear. Traditional therapy equipment – like foams, cones and putty – wasn’t cutting it and couldn’t provide real-time motivation, feedback or data for tracking progress. This meant patients became disengaged from their rehab regimes.

This is when the idea for the GripAble device was born – a fun and engaging mobile assessment and training device, to help people with upper limb movement impairment to improve movement and grip strength.

GripAble has been designed with a focus on remote and home-based rehabilitation. GripAble says: “Studies show that the more repetition and strength training a person performs, the greater their chance of restoring movement and, ultimately, their independence. Yet a lot of rehab tools and therapies are either inaccessible and too expensive or, at the other end of the scale, unmotivating and unmeasurable.”

Set up

To use GripAble, you must download the GripAble app onto your tablet or smartphone. This can be done on both Apple and Android devices. The company can provide a tablet with the app installed, for an extra fee. 

Once in the app, you need to create a profile by entering some of your personal information and your health needs. For example, which hand you want to train and what primary medical condition you’re living with. The list includes neurological conditions like Parkinson’s, stroke and multiple sclerosis as well as orthopaedic conditions such as bone fractures, osteoarthritis and muscular dystrophy.

You also need to ‘pair’ your GripAble device with the app. All our reviewers found this straightforward except one who mentioned that it took multiple attempts. 

The device, which comes with a wriststrap and is 14cm long,  was described as “durable” and “comfortable to hold” by reviewers.

The reviewers gave mixed feedback on the setting up process. Where some found the instructions “very clear” and “reasonably straightforward”, others struggled a little.

“Although I consider myself fairly adept when it comes to dealing with new technology, I did find the instructions to be fairly limited and difficult to follow,” said a 62-year-old male reviewer.

Training call

All new GripAble customers are offered a free 1-hour training session to learn how to make the most of the at-home rehabilitation programme.

All the reviewers agreed that the training call was useful and gave them a better understanding of the product. However some of the reviewers felt the call was too long and not engaging. 

“I needed the video training to realise what could be achieved with the device,” explained a reviewer. “There’s quite a lot to explore - the different activities and movements. The general menu doesn’t explain the capabilities. You definitely do the training call.”

A reviewer who hoped the GribAble device would help with her goal of opening her medication bottles easily and working with light weights without wrist pain, commented: “The online training call explained all the key features of the app.”

She added: “The trainer was friendly and competent but it was very much a one-way demonstration. I wasn’t asked to try and do any of the exercises or actions to check if I had understood, and I wasn’t asked at all if I had understood or if I had any questions.”

One reviewer felt the training call was too general and they would have liked to have received some Parkinson’s-specific recommendations. “It was clear from what she stated that she wasn’t particularly up to speed with the needs of Parkinson’s patients and how the product could work given the unique difficulties caused by some of the major Parkinson’s symptoms.”

Another reviewer added: “I felt training was lengthy and although I managed well, I still found it difficult to remember all that was said. I did take notes and referred to them.”

In the GripAble app, you can choose which of the 4 key movements you want to train.

• Grip/release (squeezing and releasing)
• Pronation/supination (wrist rotation from front to back)
• Radial deviation/ulnar deviation (up-and-down wrist movement) 
• Wrist extension/wrist Flexion (bending the wrist forward and back)

You can choose to train all 4 or just the movements you’re particularly struggling with.

The activities

GripAble’s main feature is the ‘Activites’. These are essentially games that can be played to help you train your arms, wrists and hands. GripAble has been designed to be highly sensitive so it can pick up even the smallest of finger movements and grip strength while you interact with the games.

There’s a variety of different games, from the classic Four in a Row to more action-packed Ghost Hunters, which makes you throw slime balls at phantoms,  . In fact, there are more than 20 different games and some even have a multiplayer option to play with others who also have GripAble.

Most of the reviewers enjoyed combining their training exercises with games.

“I think the games made it more light-hearted to use,” said a 69-year-old reviewer.

This sentiment was shared by another reviewer: “The games made the exercises more interesting and fun than they would have been otherwise. A serious gamer would find them very simplistic but as a non-gamer I found them accessible and entertaining. Although I think they would become tedious with long term use.” 

A reviewer, who struggles with fine motor controls and hand weakness, was not so keen on the gaming element. “I think it could be useful if you used it regularly but I did not find the activities particularly enjoyable.

“I think it may help with people who enjoy the activities but you could get bored with the games quite quickly. There is a good range of activities for all sorts of hand movements, but I did not find it engrossing.”

Depending on which of the 4 key movements you’re training, the game will require you to use the GripAble device in different ways. In the game Balloon Buddies, your character is an owl floating around on a balloon. Your goal is to move around the screen and collect as many stars in the sky as you can while avoiding the obstacles. If you’re working on gripping-and-releasing, you squeeze the device to move the owl up and release to move down. Whereas, if you’ve chosen to work on radial deviation/ulnar deviation, you tip your wrist up to float up and then down to to drop the owl down.

The activities all have a range of levels so you can progress as time goes on. One reviewer liked the challenge of the different levels. 

“GripAble has made a positive impact on my daily life. Because the exercises are in the form of games, it motivates the user to win.”

They added: “Ease of use depends on the exercise being undertaken, as I found some really easy at level 1 and others quite tricky to master at the same level.”

There were 2 reviewers who found that their Parkinson’s tremor was affected when playing the games.

“I felt it wasn’t motivating me as there was no improvement in my symptoms and some of the movements in the games caused tremor to come on. The tremor made it difficult to negotiate games which required precision.”

They added: “I wasn’t happy with the device vibrations when playing games as I felt like a fast tremor and caused some anxiety.” 

Another reviewer who has a severe tremor found it “impossible” to play the games. “The nature of the exercises required by the product were rendered more or less impossible for me to achieve due to the severity of my tremor. If anything, the exercises made my symptoms worse and I became frustrated in my inability to achieve the required goals on the exercises.” 

One of our reviewers was also worried about other Parkinson’s symptoms that the product may negatively impact.

“I have some concerns if someone has side effects from Parkinson’s medication such as obsessive behaviour. This device could become addictive as it makes you want to climb up the levels.”

The assessments

You can take an assessment for each of the four key movements, which will assess your strength and help personalise the GripAble activities. There is an option to set reminders for when you’d like to be reassessed.

“It was good to start off with the assessment to get an understanding of where I was. I then took the assessments again after 4 weeks to see where I had improved.”

On the app, you are given a daily activity report where you can see which activities and assessment you’ve completed and your scores. There’s also an option to email your reports to loved ones or your medical team. The reports are delivered as a PDF document.

Integrating into daily life

GripAble’s unique selling point is that users can have effective rehabilitation training from the comfort of their own home. So how easy is it to integrate the programme into daily life? Our reviewers had mixed feedback.

A 77-year-old reviewer who is a retired chartered engineer enjoyed the gaming aspect of the exercises and liked that the device is similar to a Nintendo Wii controller. 

He said he found it “very easy” to integrate GripAble into his daily life. But he did note that he did need to take regular rests. “There are 23 different exercises spread across 4 different activity areas. It takes time to try them all, and I needed rest periods in between. Ideally using it early in the morning once every 2 days worked for me.”

A reviewer, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 2 years ago, pointed out that it was “fairly difficult” to incorporate GripAble into her daily routine. They said: “I’m busy trying to do other more beneficial activities.”

Physiotherapist assistance

Although you can buy one by yourself, GripAble works best when using it in collaboration with a physiotherapist. A therapist can set you personalised training programmes and give real-time feedback even when face-to-face therapy isn’t possible.

A reviewer who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 9 years ago, struggled using GripAble by themself and felt it would be most beneficial to use under the superversion of a professional.

They said: “The device was fairly easy to use but seemed to be designed for use under the supervision of a physiotherapist. 

“It was possible to set targets for the number of repetitions or time spent on each exercise but there was absolutely no guidance to suggest activities that would make a difference to my symptoms.”

They added. “I felt that more specific exercise plans were needed to make the most of the product. These could be highly personalised by using the device under the supervision of a physiotherapist. I think even a general basic suggestion for Parkinson’s patients would have been helpful.”

Another reviewer agreed that it lacked condition-specific information. “I could not find any explanation of which games were beneficial to me and my symptoms,” they said.

The GripAble device costs £540 (+ VAT), or you can buy it with an Android tablet for £700 (+ VAT). Rental options are also available.

For 2 reviewers who found that some of their Parkinson’s symptoms improved while using GripAble, they felt it was worth the high price.

“It does sound expensive, but it is worthwhile.”

The other reviewer agreed. “I think £540 is expensive. But it is worth it to me because it is working.”

The other reviewers felt the price point was far too high.

“I think it is an expensive product for little return. It’s definitely not worth that much.”

A reviewer who struggles with handwriting and cooking because of their hand weakness said: “The price seems high and there possibly isn’t enough progression and variety to justify the price and long use.”