The purpose of this study was to develop a product
that could measure the knee angle during
rehabilitation exercises. A product was created with a
PolyPower stretch sensor placed on a silicone block
that was attached to a CTi OTS knee brace. The
stretch sensor provides a capacitance value that is
proportional to the amount of stretch.
The product was tested in both static and dynamic
movements. Three dynamic tests were performed, the
first test consisted of five repeated squats, the second
of five repeated lunges and the third test was a two
times five minutes run on a treadmill, first with shorts
on and second with pants on. The pants were worn to
see if the device got affected by temperature and
friction.
A high correlation between the capacitance and knee
angle was found in the calibration. The results showed
that the developed product has the potential to be used
in knee angle measurements low dynamic movements.
However, some unforeseen technical problem
occurred which require further refinement. As soon as
these refinements are in place the results produced by
the product have to be compared to accurate reference
methods.