Article

The objective of rehabilitation after spinal cord injury is to enable
successful function in everyday life and independence at home. Clinical tests can
assess whether patients are able to execute functional movements but are limited
in assessing such information at home. A prototype system is developed that
detects stand-to-reach activities, a movement with important functional
implications, at multiple locations within a mock kitchen.
DESIGN: Ten
individuals with incomplete spinal cord injuries performed a sequence of standing
and reaching tasks. The system monitored their movements by combining two sources
of information: a triaxial accelerometer, placed on the subject's thigh, detected
sitting or standing, and a network of radio frequency tags, wirelessly connected
to a wrist-worn device, detected reaching at three locations.
A threshold-based
algorithm detected execution of the combined tasks and accuracy was measured by
the number of correctly identified events. RESULTS:
The system was shown to have
an average accuracy of 98% for inferring when individuals performed
stand-to-reach activities at each tag location within the same room. CONCLUSIONS:
The combination of accelerometry and tags yielded accurate assessments of
functional stand-to-reach activities within a home environment. Optimization of
this technology could simplify patient compliance and allow clinicians to assess
functional home activities.

Langue : ANGLAIS