Development of an Extensible, Wireless Framework for Personalized Muscle Rehabilitation

Abstract

Physician/therapist assisted exercise of muscle is predominantly utilized for neuromuscular rehabilitation associated with multiple clinical conditions, such as spinal cord injury and stroke. Hemiparesis, one side weakness, is particularly common in patients surviving the episodes of stroke. The in-person, physiotherapist mediated rehabilitation poses significant burden, limits compliance, and has therefore spurred significant research efforts for developing devices for muscle electrical stimulation. However, the extant equipment is non-portable, and provides limited configurability. We present a portable, extensible framework allowing integration of multiple sensors to monitor in-home rehabilitation. We posit that such quantitative, rehabilitation efficacy feedback to patients will also improve compliance.