Ann Rehabil Med.  2015 Aug;39(4):599-608. 10.5535/arm.2015.39.4.599.

Mobile Sensor Application for Kinematic Detection of the Knees

• Jaysrichai T
• Suputtitada A
• Khovidhungij W

• KMID: 2148231
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5535/arm.2015.39.4.599

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To correctly measure the knee joint angle, this study utilized a Qualisys motion capture system and also used it as the reference to assess the validity of the study's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system that consisted of four IMU sensors and the Knee Angle Recorder software. The validity was evaluated by the root mean square (RMS) of different angles and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values between the Qualisys system and the IMU system.
METHODS
Four functional knee movement tests for ten healthy participants were investigated, which were the knee flexion test, the hip and knee flexion test, the forward step test and the leg abduction test, and the walking test.
RESULTS
The outcomes of the knee flexion test, the hip and knee flexion test, the forward step test, and the walking test showed that the RMS of different angles were less than 6degrees. The ICC values were in the range of 0.84 to 0.99. However, the leg abduction test showed a poor correlation in the measurement of the knee abduction-adduction movement.
CONCLUSION
The IMU system used in this study is a new good method to measure the knee flexion-extension movement.

Keyword

Knee joint; Motion; Validation studies; Sensors; Wireless technology

MeSH Terms

Exercise Test
Hip
Knee Joint
Knee*
Leg
Walking
Wireless Technology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 A block diagram of the Direction Cosine Matrix process. Adapted from Premerlani W, Bizard P. Direction cosine matrix IMU: theory (http://gentlenav.googlecode.com/files/DCMDraft2.pdf), with permission [10].

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  Fig. 2 (A) shows the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) devices developed for this study. (B) is the diagram of the IMU system used in this study.

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  Fig. 3 The movement tests used in this study. (A) The knee flexion test, (B) the hip and knee flexion test, (C) the forward step test, (D) the leg abduction test, and (E) the walking test along a walkway.

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  Fig. 4 The line graphs of knee flexion angles versus time during the knee flexion test, which is a comparison between the Qualisys system and the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system (the data is from participant no. 1, the right leg).

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  Fig. 5 The line graphs of knee flexion angles versus time during the hip and knee flexion test, which is a comparison between the Qualisys system and the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system (the data is from participant no. 10, the right leg).

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  Fig. 6 The line graphs of knee flexion angles versus time during the forward step test, which is a comparison between the Qualisys system and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system (the data is from the participant no. 3, the left leg).

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  Fig. 7 The line graphs of knee abduction angles versus time during the leg abduction test, which is a comparison between the Qualisys system and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system (the data is from the participant no. 9, the left leg).

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  Fig. 8 The line graphs of knee flexion angles versus time in a gait cycle during the walking test, which is a comparison between the Qualisys system and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) system (the data is from the participant no. 8, both legs).

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