Wearable Joint Rehabilitation Device with Cloud Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current body joint rehabilitation regimens rely heavily on patient self-reporting, which is inefficient and ineffective for monitoring compliance and recovery progress, leading to potential complications and increased medical costs.
Innovation Solution
A wearable movement capture device integrated with a cloud-based computing environment that tracks joint movement and activity, providing real-time data analysis and feedback to both patients and clinicians, ensuring accurate monitoring and compliance with rehabilitation protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If patient self-reporting is used to monitor rehabilitation compliance, then the system is simple and low-cost, but the accuracy and reliability of compliance monitoring deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual self-reporting mechanism with an automated sensor-based measurement system. Inertial sensors, accelerometers, and gyroscopes objectively capture joint movement data, eliminating reliance on patient subjective reporting and significantly improving compliance monitoring accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The rehabilitation monitoring system performs self-assessment by automatically tracking patient compliance through sensors. The system independently measures and reports on patient adherence to rehabilitation exercises without requiring active patient involvement in the reporting process, thereby improving accuracy while maintaining simplicity.
2Reliability
If frequent in-person physical therapy sessions are conducted to ensure compliance, then compliance monitoring reliability improves, but loss of time and medical costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feedback loops where sensor data is processed and transmitted to healthcare providers in real-time or near-real-time. This automated feedback mechanism maintains high compliance monitoring reliability by enabling remote oversight of patient adherence without requiring frequent in-person physical therapy sessions, thereby reducing time loss and medical costs.
3Productivity
If comprehensive rehabilitation tracking is implemented through wearable devices, then productivity of rehabilitation process improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wearable rehabilitation device integrates multiple functions including motion sensing, data processing, wireless communication, and compliance tracking within a single unified system. This multi-functionality approach improves rehabilitation productivity by providing comprehensive monitoring capabilities while managing device complexity through integration rather than separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines inertial sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, and communication modules into an integrated wearable unit. By merging these components into a single device, the system achieves comprehensive rehabilitation tracking that improves recovery speed while controlling complexity through component integration and consolidation.
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with disclosed embodiments, there are provided systems, methods, and apparatuses for integrating a body joint rehabilitation regimen with a wearable movement capture device operable in conjunction with a cloud based computing environment. For instance, a wearable apparatus for monitoring activity of a body joint such as knee or elbow for monitoring rehabilitation and recovery after surgical procedures and after injury to the joint is disclosed. Such a wearable apparatus includes a wearable harness in which a first portion of the wearable harness includes an proximal strap to be positioned proximal to the body joint and in which a second portion of the wearable harness includes a distal strap to be positioned distal to the body joint, in which the wearable harness is positionable upon a patient's body at the body joint without occluding a surgical site of the patient. Such a wearable harness further includes a connecting section having a first end connected with the proximal strap and a second end connected with the distal strap and a first buckle housing (smart buckle) secured to the proximal strap of the wearable harness and a second buckle housing secured to the distal strap of the wearable harness, in which the proximal and distal straps maintain the first and the second buckles in a consistent position relative to the axis of an underlying bone such as a thigh bone, calf bone, femur, or tibia of a patient. The wearable harness further includes integrated circuitry including at least a magnetometer and accelerometer within the first buckle and an accelerometer within the second buckle. A microprocessor of the smart buckle periodically reads a switch position on the buckles, reads the magnetometer and accelerometer data and processes the data to determine (i) an angle for the sample period, and periodically classify an activity (e.g., as walking, standing, sitting, elevating, and icing, etc.). Such data is relayed to a cloud computing environment for further analysis and for access by clinicians and patients. Other related embodiments are disclosed.