ECS Research
Publications
Intranet Tools

nb. next round of REF2013 will NOT be using data from eprints.ecs, but the central university REF interface.

RSS 1.0 Feed
RSS 2.0 Feed
Atom Feed
 

Augmenting Forearm Crutches with Wireless Sensors for Lower Limb Rehabilitation

Merrett, G., Ettabib, M., Peters, C., Hallett, G. and White, N. (2010) Augmenting Forearm Crutches with Wireless Sensors for Lower Limb Rehabilitation. Measurement Science and Technology, 21 (12).

Download

[img]
Preview
 Accepted Version
 PDF (Accepted Manuscript)
986Kb

Abstract

Forearm crutches are frequently used in the rehabilitation of an injury to the lower limb. The recovery rate is improved if the patient correctly applies a certain fraction of their body weight (specified by a clinician) through the axis of the crutch, referred to as partial weight bearing (PWB). Incorrect weight bearing has been shown to result in an extended recovery period or even cause further damage to the limb. There is currently no minimally-invasive tool for long-term monitoring of a patient’s PWB in a home environment. This paper describes the research and development of an instrumented forearm crutch that has been developed to wirelessly and autonomously monitor a patient’s weight bearing over the full period of their recovery, including its potential use in a home environment. A pair of standard forearm crutches are augmented with low-cost off-the-shelf wireless sensor nodes and electronic components to provide indicative measurements of the applied weight, crutch tilt, and hand position on the grip. Data are wirelessly transmitted between crutches and to a remote computer (where they are processed and visualized in LabVIEW), and the patient receives biofeedback by means of an audible signal when they put too much or too little weight through the crutch. The initial results obtained highlight the capability of the instrumented crutch to support physiotherapists and patients in monitoring usage.

Item Type:Article
Creator/Authors:
Geoff Merrett
Mohamed Ettabib
Christian Peters
Georgina Hallett
Neil White
Keywords:assistive healthcare; forearm crutches; instrumented objects; biomedical engineering; patient monitoring; biofeedback
Research Group:Current ECS Groups > Electronic and Software Systems
Current ECS Groups > Electronics and Electrical Engineerineering
Old ECS Groups > Pervasive System Centre
Old ECS Groups > Electronic Systems and Devices Group
Alternative Locations:http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/21/12/124008, http://stacks.iop.org/0957-0233/21/124008
Date:29 October 2010
Information about this record:
Performance Indicator:EZ~05~04~11
Citations:
Downloads (2010):106
ID Code:21457
Last Modified:23 Sep 2011 10:41
Deposited On:02 Aug 2010 08:19 by Merrett, Geoff

Tools & Metadata

Download Statistics

Last month

Last year

Members of ECS may view the download statistics dashboard for this record.

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in this archive you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

A. Vasarhelyi, T. Baumert, C. Fritsch, W. Hopfenmuller, G. Gradl, and T. Mittlmeier, "Partial weight bearing after surgery for fractures of the lower extremity - is it achievable?," Gait Posture, vol. 23, pp. 99-105, Jan 2006.

J. M. Walker, "Pathomechanics and classification of cartilage lesions, facilitation of repair," J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, vol. 28, pp. 216-31, Oct 1998.

S. Li, C. W. Armstrong, and D. Cipriani, "Three-point gait crutch walking: variability in ground reaction force during weight bearing," Arch Phys Med Rehabil, vol. 82, pp. 86-92, Jan 2001.

H. L. Hurkmans, J. B. Bussmann, R. W. Selles, E. Benda, H. J. Stam, and J. A. Verhaar, "The difference between actual and prescribed weight bearing of total hip patients with a trochanteric osteotomy: long-term vertical force measurements inside and outside the hospital," Arch Phys Med Rehabil, vol. 88, pp. 200-6, Feb 2007.

G. Wannstedt and R. L. Craik, "Clinical evaluation of a sensory feedback device: the limb load monitor," Bull Prosthet Res, pp. 8-49, Spring 1978.

A. Malviya, J. Richards, R. K. Jones, A. Udwadia, and J. Doyle, "Reproducibilty of partial weight bearing," Injury, vol. 36, pp. 556-9, Apr 2005.

J. W. Youdas, B. J. Kotajarvi, D. J. Padgett, and K. R. Kaufman, "Partial weight-bearing gait using conventional assistive devices," Arch Phys Med Rehabil, vol. 86, pp. 394-8, Mar 2005.

H. L. Hurkmans, J. B. Bussmann, E. Benda, J. A. Verhaar, and H. J. Stam, "Techniques for measuring weight bearing during standing and walking," Clin Biomech, vol. 18, pp. 576-89, Aug 2003.

M. Tveit and J. Karrholm, "Low effectiveness of prescribed partial weight bearing. Continuous recording of vertical loads using a new pressure-sensitive insole," J Rehabil Med, vol. 33, pp. 42-6, Jan 2001.

D. Krause, M. Wunnemann, A. Erlmann, T. Holzchen, M. Mull, N. Olivier, and T. Jollenbeck, "Biodynamic feedback training to assure learning partial load bearing on forearm crutches," Arch Phys Med Rehabil, vol. 88, pp. 901-6, Jul 2007.

F. Polak, "Gait Analysis," in Rehabilitation of Movement: Theoretical Basis of Clinical Practice, J. Pitt-Brooke, Ed.: Bailliere Tindall, 1997, pp. 285-316.

S. L. Wolf and J. E. Hudson, "Feedback Signal Based Upon Force and Time-Delay - Modification of the Krusen Limb Load Monitor," Physical Therapy, vol. 60, pp. 1289-1290, 1980.

J. Engel, A. Amir, E. Messer, and I. Caspi, "Walking cane designed to assist partial weight bearing," Arch Phys Med Rehabil, vol. 64, pp. 386-8, Aug 1983.

G. Bergmann, R. Kolbel, A. Rohlmann, and N. Rauschenbach, "Walking with walking aids. III. Control and training of partial weightbearing by means of instrumented crutches," Z Orthop Ihre Grenzgeb, vol. 117, pp. 293-300, Jun 1979.

W. Wu, L. Au, B. Jordan, T. Stathopoulos, M. Batalin, W. Kaiser, A. Vahdatpour, M. Sarrafzadeh, M. Fang, and J. Chodosh, "The SmartCane system: an assistive device for geriatrics," in Proceedings of the ICST 3rd international conference on Body area networks, Tempe, Arizona, 2008.

A. Santic, V. Bilas, and I. Lackovic, "A system for measuring forces in the legs and crutches from ambulatory patients," in Proc. 19th Annual Int'l Conf. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1997, pp. 1895-1898.

A. B. Liggins, D. Coiro, G. W. Lange, T. E. Johnston, B. T. Smith, and J. J. McCarthy, "The case for using instrumented crutches during gait analysis," in Bioengineering Conference, 2002. Proceedings of the IEEE 28th Annual Northeast, 2002, pp. 15-16.

T. Instruments, "ez430-rf2500 Development Tool User's Guide," Texas Instruments SLAU227E, April 2009 2009.

Texas Instruments, "SimpliciTI Compliant Protocol Stack." [Online]. Available: http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/simpliciti.html. [Accessed: Oct, 2009].

Tekscan, Inc, "FlexiForce® A201 Single Button Force Sensing Resistor." [Online]. Available: http://www.tekscan.com/flexiforce/flexiforce.html. [Accessed: May, 2009].

"LIS3LV02DL MEMS 3-axis ±2g/±6g digital output low voltage linear accelerometer," January. [Online]. Available: http://www.st.com/stonline/products/literature/ds/12094.pdf. [Accessed: September, 2009].

"Spectra Symbol SoftPot Foil Potentiometers." [Online]. Available: http://www.spectrasymbol.com/typo3/site/en/softpotsplash/softpot.html. [Accessed: September, 2009].

Novel GmbH, "Pedar Systems." [Online]. Available: http://www.novel.de/productinfo/systems-pedar.htm. [Accessed: Oct, 2009].

G. V. Merrett, C. Peters, G. Hallett, and N. M. White, "An Instrumented Crutch for Monitoring Patients' Weight Distribution during Orthopaedic Rehabilitation," in Eurosensors XXIII Lausanne, Switzerland: Elsevier Procedia Chemistry, 2009.

J. Polastre, J. Hill, and D. Culler, "Versatile low power media access for wireless sensor networks," in Int'l Conf. Embedded Networked Sensor Systems (SenSys'04), Baltimore, MD, United States, 2004, pp. 95-107.

Corrections

ECS staff and postgraduates may modify this record

   Welcome from Deputy Head of School (Research) Research Prospectus Industrial Partnerships New Research Students Notes for Guidance New Research Students Notes for Guidance
The ECS EPrints Repository supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

EPrints is free software developed by the University of Southampton to facilitate Open Access to research.		 EPrints