Research work conducted at the Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (https://dekut-dsail.github.io/), Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya by Antony M. Gitau (https://antony-gitau.github.io/)
Hip-Knee-Ankle angle and Flexion angle calculation and realtime display on DSAIL-Orthopedia software.
Accurate limb alignment and joint motion assessment is crucial in orthopedic practice for diagnosing and treating musculoskeletal conditions. Traditional methods like full-length X-rays, involve radiation exposure and require specialized equipment, limiting their utility in various clinical settings. Additionally, visual inspection and palpation techniques for flexion angle measurements are prone to human error due to manual data entry.
The primary objective is to refine the prevalent techniques employed in measuring joint flexion angles, which are burdened by several limitations. Notably, these traditional techniques are based on manual records and entail invasive interactions as they necessitate physical contact between the patient and the orthopedic specialist.
In this work, we present a wearable device: NeeFlex, and a computer vision-based system: DSAIL-Orthopedia, as part of our efforts to improve the quality of monitoring recovering orthopedic patients. The first versions of these two devices can calculate joint flexion angles and save them in a database and query on a real-time dashboard as visualized on the system architecture above.
This work has been presented in various avenues including: