Monitoring Patient Recovery Using Wireless Physiotherapy Devices

Abstract

We aim to improve physiotherapy patients’ recovery time by monitoring various prescribed tasks and displaying a score associated with how well the patient has performed said task. This kind of feedback would be desirable in situations where physical proximity between the physiotherapist and his patient is not always convenient or achievable. Having a way to remotely perform and receive feedback on prescribed tasks remedies that problem. We used a wireless device that contains accelerometer (acceleration) and gyroscope (angular velocity) sensors to collect motion information from the patient. After this information has been collected, it is processed in order to provide a more accurate representation of the performed task. The processed data is then broken up into micro-exercises, parts that make up the specified exercise, to evaluate qualitatively how accurately the exercise was performed and quantitatively how many times the task was performed. Finally, a task score is provided to the user that is based on the Functional Ability Scale and a weighted linear algorithm of the sum of the micro-exercise scores. This allows a patient to receive instant feedback on a performed task without the need to physically interact with a physiotherapist.