In Partnership with

• Fysiomed, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Introduction

In sports therapy, objective measurements of joint angles are extremely important. Relative small differences between left and right, or at multiple sessions, might be an indication for success or failure. Athletes who apparently function as befitting can compensate injury related limitation in specific joints. For example,  maximal knee extension is a painfull constraint in soccer players in the final phase of a kick, they might overload specific muscles to prevent such painful knee extension. Such compensatory strategy can come to light in a thorough measurement of joint rotations of multiple joints.

Goal

Using inertial or optical tracking of well placed markers inside the CAREN system, joint angels can be objectively measured and recorded. The therapist can define a protocol specifically for a patient to keep track of alterations in joint rotations over multiple sessions. The objective nature of the measurement, and the illustrative plots of multiple recording sessions, clearly demonstrates if patients’ maximal joint angels change as a result of the therapy.

Population

This application is meant for subjects with restrictions in their joint angles. The application can be used for sports related joint injuries, but also for any other type of patient of which it is important to know the status of and potential changes in their joint angles.

Game play

Direct feedback on maximal joint angles gives both patient and therapist an immediate idea of the status of the patients. By the visual representation of the joint rotation in both directions a clear view of the Range of Motion for a specific movement is given.

Applications focusing on this representation of joint Range of Motion to challenge patients to increase their joint angles are in development and testing.

Unique opportunities

-          Objective recording of joint rotations

-          Direct feedback on differences (left – right, over time)