PASSIVE OPTICAL RANGE OF MOTION & BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM

THIS PROJECT WILL PRODUCE AN OPTICAL RANGE-OF-MOTION MEASUREMENT AND BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM THAT IS PORTABLE, PASSIVEAND CORDLESS. THIS SYSTEM WILL SPEED UP THE RECOVERY OF PATIENTS IN REHABILITATION AFTER ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY OR ILLNESS. THE SYSTEM TRANSMITS SHORT PULSES OF LIGHT THAT ARE REFLECTED BACK BY THREE REFLECTORS WORN BY THE USER. A CAMERA MEASURES THE POSITION OF THE REFLECTD LIGHT AND SENDS THE DATA TO A COMPUTER, WHICH CALCULATES THE RANGE OF MOTION AND DISPLAYS IT. THE COMPUTER ALSO GUIDES THE USER TO FOLLOW A PREDETERMINED TRAINING PROGRAM AND RECORDS ALL DATA, INCLUDING STATISTICAL AVERAGES. PHASE I WILL TEST THE FEASIBILITY OF THE RANGE OF MOTION SYSTEM FOR USE IN REHABILITATION. THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO: (1) DEVELOP A SYSTEM THAT MEASURES THE RANGE AND SPEED OF MOTION THE REHABILITATING PERSON HAS OVER HIS OR HER INJUREDBODY PART, (2) BUILD CORDLESS PROTOTYPES OF THIS SYSTEM, AND(3) IMPLEMENT A CLINICAL TEST PROGRAM. PHASE II WILL FACILITATE THE FULL-SCALE ADAPTATION OF THIS DEVICE THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF A STAND-ALONE, BATTERY- OPERATED VERSION OF THE SYSTEM AND THROUGH REFINEMENT OF THESYSTEM BASED ON CLINICAL TRIALS. AWARDEE'S STATEMENT OF THE POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONSOF THE RESEARCH: AN INEXPENSIVE, PORTABLE RANGE-OF-MOTION MEASUREMENT AND BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM WILL ENABLE REHABILITATION THERAPIST TO DO THEIR JOB BETTER AND MORE EFFICIENTLY. IT FEATURES EASY USER ADAPTATION AND ALLOWS INDEPENDENT TRAINING BY THE USER, WITHOUT THE THERAPIST PRESENT, WHICH WILL ENCOURAGE MORE TRAINING AND THEREBY ACHIEVE A BETTER, SAFER, AND FASTER REHABILITATION. THE DATA COLLECTION CAPABILITIES WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE DATA FOR REHABILITATION RESEARCH.