Development of an Inertial Motion Capture System for Clinical Application

Abstract

The ability to capture human motion based on wearable sensors has a wide range of applications, e.g., in healthcare, sports, well-being, and workflow analysis. This article focuses on the development of an online-capable system for accurately capturing joint kinematics based on inertial measurement units (IMUs) and its clinical application, with a focus on locomotion analysis for rehabilitation. The article approaches the topic from the technology and application perspectives and fuses both points of view. It presents, in a self-contained way, previous results from three studies as well as new results concerning the technological development of the system. It also correlates these with new results from qualitative expert interviews with medical practitioners and movement scientists. The interviews were conducted for the purpose of identifying relevant application scenarios and requirements for the technology used. As a result, the potentials of the system for the different identified application scenarios are discussed and necessary next steps are deduced from this analysis.