The Use of Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors in Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Applications: The State-of-the-Art and Ongoing Research Topics

Abstract

In recent years, fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are becoming increasingly attractive for sensing applications in biomechanics and rehabilitation engineering due to their advantageous properties like small size, light weight, biocompatibility, chemical inertness, multiplexing capability and immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). They also offer a high-performance alternative to conventional technologies, either for measuring a variety of physical parameters or for performing high-sensitivity biochemical analysis. FBG-based sensors demonstrated their feasibility for specific sensing applications in aeronautic, automotive, civil engineering structure monitoring and undersea oil exploration; however, their use in the field of biomechanics and rehabilitation applications is very recent and its practicality for full-scale implementation has not yet been fully established. They could be used for detecting strain in bones, pressure mapping in orthopaedic joints, stresses in intervertebral discs, chest wall deformation, pressure distribution in Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), forces induced by tendons and ligaments, angles between body segments during gait, and many others in dental biomechanics. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of all the possible applications of FBG sensing technology in biomechanics and rehabilitation and the status of ongoing researches up-to-date all over the world, demonstrating the FBG advances over other existing technologies.

Fiber Bragg grating-based sensor for monitoring respiration and heart activity during magnetic resonance imaging examinations

“…The sensor applications of FBGs alone cover many fields, such as structural health monitoring, 41 monitoring of conditions in electrical plants, 42 and physiological activity monitoring. 43 FBGs owe their popularity to their immunity to optical signal intensity modulation, which is possible on account of their spectral encoding as well as excellent multiplexing and self-referencing capabilities, thus allowing for the addressing of several sensors with one optical cable. At the same time, they offer the standard benefits of fiber-optic technology such as EM immunity, intrinsically safe modes of operation, a chemically inert nature, small size, and light weight.…”

Fiber-optic sensors for monitoring patient physiological parameters: a review of applicable technologies and relevance to use during magnetic resonance imaging procedures

“…The applications in which FBGs serve solely as sensors cover many fields, 146 e.g., the monitoring of structural health, [147][148][149][150] operating conditions of electrical plants, [151][152][153] or life processes in the human body. [26][27][28][154][155][156][157][158] Furthermore, FBGs are popular for their resistance to modulations in the optical signal intensity, which is possible because of the so-called spectral encoding, i.e., the information is contained not in the light intensity but in a spectral parameter (wavelength). 159 This property, along with its socalled self-reference capability, i.e., a return to the referential values of spectral parameters after achieving the initial conditions, allow multiple Bragg gratings to be contained within one optical fiber.…”

New Trends in Dental Biomechanics with Photonics Technologies

“…There is a lack of information in this topic of experimental biomechanics which is important to give further ideas on the bone remodeling process around implants, which has been so well studied by other methods. Recently, some review reports appeared in the literature, presenting the application of FOS in biomechanics, in particular dental biomechanics and in biomedical applications [140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148], clearly showing the great interest in this type of sensor in research.…”