SYSTEM FOR MONITORING PHYSICAL THERAPY EXERCISES. INTERACTIVE MOBILE APPLICATION FOR MONITORING WRIST DEVICE MEASUREMENTS

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Daniel Pereira e
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/155570
• topic: Wrist Movements; Motion Sensors; Wearable sensors; Mobile Computing; Interactive Mobile Application; Physiotherapy; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática

It is known that a simple repetitive motion is enough to lead to an injury to a joint. It is important to pay proper attention to the problem and seek dedicated treatment to rehabilitate the affected area, as the situation can worsen and cause serious irreversible damage. The wrist is one of the joints that suffers most from these problems, as it is subject to many repetitive tasks during everyday life, such as using a cell phone, or working on a computer. It is recommended that the rehabilitation process is carried out in the best possible way, so that recovery is quick and efficient, and it is usually necessary for physiotherapy exercises to be done daily at regular intervals, and a personal commitment from the patient and monitoring by the health professional is essential. This work aims to develop a physiotherapy exercise monitoring system for the wrist. Through an interactive mobile application, the patient can access a set of exercises proposed by the physiotherapist and benefit from an interface with real-time information regarding the movement that is being performed. The system’s wearable motion-sensing prototype is worn on the wrist to collect and send data regarding the movements being performed during the exercises to the patient’s mobile application. Thus, the patient is able to perform the proposed wrist rehabilitation exercises in a more controlled and correct way. On the other hand, the physiotherapist can consult the patient’s progress and follow up the patient more closely. The system is evaluated for its functionality and usability of the different user interfaces, and also for its efficiency in reading the angles made with the wrist during physiotherapy movements. User stories were used to evaluate the ease of use and intuitiveness of the system, and it is of interest to carry out a questionnaire for both patients and physiotherapists in order to obtain feedback and suggestions to help improve the system.