Bandage With Integrated Sensors to Monitor the Healing of Injured Knees
By Quick, Darren; Gizmag,Publication Date: March 7, 2011
Article features a bandage that enables doctors and patients to monitor an injured knee’s range of movement over time to gauge the progress of healing and adjust treatment as needed. The new knee bandage, developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany, comprises a bracket that incorporates special sensors that measure and record the joint’s range of movement and determine the degree to which it rotates and the forces acting upon it. The sensors include angular measurement systems based on magnetic principles as well as acceleration and rate-of-rotation sensors which observe movements and record data continuously, allowing doctors to determine exactly how patients are moving their knee and how the knee’s range of movement changes over time. The various fittings for the sensor systems have been designed so as not to restrict freedom of movement. At the time the article was published, researchers at Fraunhofer IPA were working on applying the measurement of human kinematics to other parts of the body, including shoulder and hip joints and announced the bandage would be demonstrated at the MEDTEC Europe trade show in March 2011.
Published by: Gizmag Pty Ltd (Website:http://www.gizmag.com/)
Link to text: http://www.gizmag.com/mobile-joint-monitoring-bandage/18081/
