<Session 4: Biomedical Application>Telemetric tracing of blocked overloads in a new spine protector in human rehabilitation

19–22 May 2022 Kyoto, JapanAfter spinal cord injuries movements of the upper body must be restricted until damages like compressions or fractures are recovered completely. On the other hand as degeneration of unused tissue takes place very fast it is important that rehabilitation measures are taken as quick as possible in order to revive bones, tendons and muscles in a good state. Under this conflict patients very often feel highly unsure. Therefore we developed an new spine protector that is attached to the upper body to protect the patient against a repeated damage. Range of movements in direction of rotation, flexion, extension and lateral flexion is completely free unless adjustable limits are reached. Bigger amplitudes are restricted by absorbing higher forces into the protector. At the beginning of rehabilitation the limits are adjusted to a narrow range and during recovery time this limits are enlarged step by step. This gives a high secure feeling to the patient resulting in a more motivated training. In order to measure movement and overload forces during training and daily live situations we measured and transmitted 3D-angle and force signals form the protector to a telemetry recoding unit. Analysis of the data helps to find out optimum training tasks