Wireless instrumented walker for remote rehabilitation monitoring

An instrumented walker is an assistive device designed to assess the effects of upper-limb loading on gait characteristics. Such a device is used in conjunction with a motion analysis system, and electromyography (EMG) (i.e., muscle electrical activity) to gain a complete assessment of the patient's gait patterns during clinical interventions. In this work we developed an instrumented wireless walker using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf components aiming to determine a patient's weight dependency by measuring upper-limb loading at its handle bars during clinical rehabilitation studies. The device consists of a transmitter/receiver, force sensors, rechargeable 9V Nickel-Metal Hydride battery, microcontroller, 16×2 LCD screen, and a Hugo assistive walker. All components are housed in a 71/2" × 4" × 11/4" plastic enclosure and secured in an unobtrusive manner on the walker. The device was tested for accuracy and ease of use during real-time simultaneous data acquisition along with motion capture kinematics, EMG activity and overground force plate data recordings. Successful data acquisitions from these tests along with the advantages over the traditional wired walkers show the feasibility and benefit of using this novel device in future gait studies and in rehabilitation settings.