The amount of home-based exercise prescribed by a physical therapist is difficult to monitor. However, the integration of wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) devices can aid in monitoring home exercise by analyzing exercise biomechanics. The objective of this study is to evaluate machine learning models for classifying nine different upper extremity exercises, based upon kinematic data captured from an IMU-based device. Fifty participants performed one compound and eight isolation exercises with their right arm. Each exercise was performed ten times for a total of 4500 trials. Joint angles were calculated using IMUs that were placed on the hand, forearm, upper arm, and torso. Various machine learning models were developed with different algorithms and train-test splits. Random forest models with flattened kinematic data as a feature had the greatest accuracy (98.6%). Using triaxial joint range of motion as the feature set resulted in decreased accuracy (91.9%) with faster speeds. Accuracy did not decrease below 90% until training size was decreased to 5% from 50%. Accuracy decreased (88.7%) when splitting data by participant. Upper extremity exercises can be classified accurately using kinematic data from a wearable IMU device. A random forest classification model was developed that quickly and accurately classified exercises. Sampling frequency and lower training splits had a modest effect on Manuscript

Current clinical methods of screening older adults for fall risk have difficulties. We analyzed data on 67 women (mean age = 77.5 years) who participated in the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study within the Women’s Health Initiative and in an accelerometer calibration substudy. Participants completed the short physical performance battery (SPPB), questions about falls in the past year, and a timed 400-m walk while wearing a hip triaxial accelerometer (30 Hz). Women with SPPB ≤ 9 and 1+reported falls ( n = 19) were grouped as high fall risk; women with SPPB = 10–12 and 0 reported falls ( n = 48) were grouped as low fall risk. Random Forests were trained to classify women into these groups, based upon traditional measures of gait and/or signal-based features extracted from accelerometer data. Eleven models investigated combined feature effects on classification accuracy, using 10-fold cross-validation. The models had an average 73.7% accuracy, 81.1% precision, and 0.706 AUC. The best performing model including triaxial data, cross-correlations, and traditional measures of gait had 78.9% accuracy, 84.4% precision, and 0.846 AUC. Mediolateral signal-based measures—coefficient of variance, cross-correlation with anteroposterior accelerations, and mean acceleration—ranked as the top 3 features. The classification accuracy is promising, given research on probabilistic models of falls indicates accuracies ≥80% are challenging to achieve. The results suggest accelerometer-based measures captured during walking are potentially useful in screening older women for fall risk. We are applying algorithms developed in this paper on an OPACH dataset of 5000 women with a 1-year prospective falls log and week-long, free-living accelerometer data.

Unsupervised home exercise is a major component of physical therapy (PT). This study proposes an inexpensive, inertial measurement unit-based wearable device to capture kinematic data to facilitate exercise. However, conveying and interpreting kinematic data to non-experts poses a challenge due to the complexity and background knowledge required that most patients lack. Objectives The objectives of this study were to identify key user interface and user experience features that would likely improve device adoption and assess participant receptiveness toward the device. Methods Fifty participants were recruited to perform nine upper extremity exercises while wearing the device. Prior to exercise, participants completed an orientation of the device, which included examples of software graphics with exercise data. Surveys that measured receptiveness toward the device, software graphics, and ergonomics were given before and after exercise. Results Participants were highly receptive to the device with 90% of the participants likely to use the device during PT. Participants understood how the simple kinematic data could be used to aid exercise, but the data could be difficult to comprehend with more complex movements. Devices should incorporate wireless sensors and emphasize ease of wear. Conclusion Device-guided home physical rehabilitation can allow for individualized treatment protocols and improve exercise self-efficacy through kinematic analysis. Future studies should implement clinical testing to evaluate the impact a wearable device can have on rehabilitation outcomes.

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