Survey
Interactive Wearable Systems for Upper Body Rehabilitation: a Systematic Review
Wang Q, Markopoulos P, Yu B, Chen W & Timmermans A
Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation (2017) 14:20
DOI 10.1186/s12984-017-0229-y
Note: this paper performs a survey of the literature; the authors do not report the outcome of the PRISMA protocol.
Interactive wearable systems (IWS) measure range of motion, posture or usage; and provide auditory, visual or tactile feedback. Posture monitoring is traditionally performed by a therapist. When devices can provide accurate and reliable feedback, IWS opens up the possibility of independent training.
Objectives: A) to classify interactive wearable systems used for movement and posture monitoring during upper body rehabilitation, B) to gauge the wear-ability of the systems and C) to perform a literature review.
Process: A) The authors created a matrix of three axes to classify IWS technology.The axes reflect
- sensor technology – how it measures: (accelerometers or inertial measurement units, angular sensors or other);
- measurement - what is measured: (body posture, range of movement or amount of use); and
- the way feedback is delivered: (auditory, visual, tactile or multi-modal).
B) Wear-ability is classified by the following criteria: the sensor system should remain in place on the body, be comfortable, flexible enough not to limit movement, easy to use and fit different body shapes.
C) The authors included 45 papers, classified by the literature by the level of involvement with patients and the level of evaluation as technical, regarding usability, or clinical. The largest group of papers report on usability evaluation on normal subjects or with ‘real patients’ in stroke rehabilitation. Three papers report clinical evaluation with clinical patients, and one randomized controlled trial was found in the literature. Since a similar review in 2008, there have been only small improvements in the strength of clinical evidence for interactive wearable systems.
Findings: The strength of this paper is in the creation of a matrix for classifying interactive wearable devices. The authors also propose (but do not employ) a list for evaluating the wear-ability of such systems. This report provides a systematic way of regarding interactive wearable systems.