An improved solution for knee rehabilitation at home

The paper illustrates a prototype of an end-to-end solution to support knee rehabilitation at home. The solution has been designed by a multidisciplinary team, including engineers, physical therapists, physicians and ergonomists. The correct execution of the rehabilitation exercises is evaluated in real time by monitoring the range of the knee joint angles by means of Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) worn by the patient on the shank and thigh. The parameters of the kinematic model of the lower limb, necessary for knee angle estimation, are estimated by an innovative functional calibration algorithm, which is detailed in the paper. The main advantages of this algorithm is its robustness to incorrect IMU placement and to the specific anatomical parameter of the users. Details of the solution architecture and its sub-systems are presented along with preliminary results of the comparison with a reference optoelectronic motion capture system.

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