mCrutch: A Novel m-Health Approach Supporting Continuity of Care

Abstract

This paper reports the architecture of a low-cost smart crutches system for mobile health applications. The prototype is based on a set of sensorized crutches connected to a custom Android application. Crutches were instrumented with a 6-axis inertial measurement unit, a uniaxial load cell, WiFi connectivity, and a microcontroller for data collection and processing. Crutch orientation and applied force were calibrated with a motion capture system and a force platform. Data are processed and visualized in real-time on the Android smartphone and are stored on the local memory for further offline analysis. The prototype’s architecture is reported along with the post-calibration accuracy for estimating crutch orientation (5° RMSE in dynamic conditions) and applied force (10 N RMSE). The system is a mobile-health platform enabling the design and development of real-time biofeedback applications and continuity of care scenarios, such as telemonitoring and telerehabilitation.

End-to-End Dataset Collection System for Sport Activities

“…Table 1 provides an outlook, considering our aims. We assessed Sim900 as a GSM module [33], Nina W102 as a Wi-Fi module [34], and Nina B306 as Bluetooth module [35], as they are commonly used modules in IoT applications due to their affordability and reliability.…”

“…Table 1 provides an outlook, considering our aims. We assessed Sim900 as a GSM module [33], Nina W102 as a Wi-Fi module [34], and Nina B306 as Bluetooth module [35], as they are commonly used modules in IoT applications due to their affordability and reliability. The comparison highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each communication type, leading to different possible applications for each one:…”