How reliable are pressure measurements with Tekscan sensors on the body surface of human subjects wearing load carriage systems?

Wettenschwiler, Patrick D.; Stämpfli, Rolf; Lorenzetti, Silvio; Ferguson, Stephen J.; Rossi, René M.; Annaheim, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2015.06.003

Cited by 34 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…To try solving this we applied a technique we called Period Averaging which helps to get more reliable results, but this has some limitations; for example, it can be applied only on signals which are known to have some form of periodicity. From literature analysis we found that when flexible sensors are used to measure skin interface pressure, results can be affected by inaccuracies due to the nonideality of the tissues that compose the human body [6,11]. In fact body softness variation due to bones prominence, sensor bending, and shear forces are effects always present in this kind of measurement that affects sensor's response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, a challenging task is the monitoring of pressure exerted by a backpack on the shoulders and on the back of the user [8,10], which is complicated by the uncontrollability of the strap-shoulder interface and by user movements [11]. Several research works address this issue to extract meaningful information having an impact on ergonomy [2] or user posture [9,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Force Sensing Resistor and Evaluation of Technology for Wearable Body Pressure Sensing

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wearable technologies are gaining momentum and widespread diffusion. Thanks to devices such as activity trackers, in form of bracelets, watches, or anklets, the end-users are becoming more and more aware of their daily activity routine, posture, and training and can modify their motor-behavior. Activity trackers are prevalently based on inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes. Loads we bear with us and the interface pressure they put on our body also affect posture. A contact interface pressure sensing wearable would be beneficial to complement inertial activity trackers. What is precluding force sensing resistors (FSR) to be the next best seller wearable? In this paper, we provide elements to answer this question. We build an FSR based on resistive material (Velostat) and printed conductive ink electrodes on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate; we test its response to pressure in the range 0–2.7 kPa. We present a state-of-the-art review, filtered by the need to identify technologies adequate for wearables. We conclude that the repeatability is the major issue yet unsolved.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Force Sensing Resistor and Evaluation of Technology for Wearable Body Pressure Sensing

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The F-scan pressure sensors (Hsiao et al 2002, Wettenschwiler et al, 2015 were used during the test to balance the load between the left and right feet. At that time, the standing pressure patterns were collected as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pressure thresholds and stiffness on the plantar surface of the human foot

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objective was to develop a methodology to assess Pressure Discomfort Thresholds (PDT), Pressure Pain Thresholds (PPT), and tissue stiffness on the plantar surface of the foot. Ten male and ten female participants volunteered for the study. Foot landmarks were used to create a standardized grid-type template of 95 points. For each test point, PPT and PDT values were obtained, and stiffness was calculated for each of the twenty participants. Cluster analyses were performed to determine the regions of similarity for the three dependent variables, PPT, PDT and stiffness. Moran's-I-index was used to determine the spatial auto correlations. The use of k-means clustering showed five distinct clusters while the three dependent variables showed strong correlations to each other. Morisita's similarity index was used to check the similarity of the grid among all participants. Both male and female participants showed a Morisita's index greater than 0.7 confirming the reliability of the foot template.Practitioner Summary: Pressure Discomfort thresholds (PPT), Pressure pain thresholds (PPT) and tissue stiffness were evaluated at 95 points on the plantar surface of the foot. The PPT and related PDT map are useful to design the footbeds of shoes. Based on the data collected, five distinct clusters of locations were identified.

show abstract

“…Many efforts have been made to alleviate the negative effect when carrying a backpack, particularly by improving the pressure distribution over the body. The static pressures caused by the shoulder straps may cause local fatigue of the superior trapezius, but the hip region was more tolerant to static pressures [5][6][7][8]. Many packs have added components such as the hip belt, chest strap, load lifters to help even the pressure distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Colours Based on Basic Structuration Theory of Photonic Crystals

Chen¹,

Xu²,

Lu³

et al. 2019

JFBI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Backpacks have been widely used to increase load carriage capacity, but the pressure at the body surface may cause discomfort or pains. Previous studies revealed that chest straps and hip belts of backpack helped to relieve the discomfort feeling, but how the pressure changes are still unclear. In this study, the influence of strap tying and the posture change on the pressure distribution were investigated. A daily backpack with 5kg load was used in the experiment. Five young females carried the backpack to stand, walk and jog. The pressures were measured at the shoulder, waist and hip, which are the primary load bearing regions. The trunk forward lean angle (TFL) was captured by using the Vicon motion capture system. Results showed that tying both the chest strap and hip belt reduced the shoulder pressure and increased the pressure at the hip and waist. From standing, walking to running, TFL increased gradually and the pressure transferred from shoulder to back and hip. These findings help us to better understand and quantify the load carrying performance of a backpack.

show abstract

How reliable are pressure measurements with Tekscan sensors on the body surface of human subjects wearing load carriage systems?

Cited by 34 publications

References 22 publications

Force Sensing Resistor and Evaluation of Technology for Wearable Body Pressure Sensing

Force Sensing Resistor and Evaluation of Technology for Wearable Body Pressure Sensing

Pressure thresholds and stiffness on the plantar surface of the human foot

Structural Colours Based on Basic Structuration Theory of Photonic Crystals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About