Abstract
Ankle injuries may adversely increase the risk of injury to the joints of the lower extremity and can lead to various impairments in workplaces. The purpose of this study was to predict the ankle angles by developing a footwear pressure sensor and utilizing a machine learning technique. The footwear sensor was composed of six FSRs (force sensing resistors), a microcontroller and a Bluetooth LE chipset in a flexible substrate. Twenty-six subjects were tested in squat and stoop motions, which are common positions utilized when lifting objects from the floor and pose distinct risks to the lifter. The kNN (k-nearest neighbor) machine learning algorithm was used to create a representative model to predict the ankle angles. For the validation, a commercial IMU (inertial measurement unit) sensor system was used. The results showed that the proposed footwear pressure sensor could predict the ankle angles at more than 93% accuracy for squat and 87% accuracy for stoop motions. This study confirmed that the proposed plantar sensor system is a promising tool for the prediction of ankle angles and thus may be used to prevent potential injuries while lifting objects in workplaces.
Highlights
Every day, millions of workers report to their jobs with the hope of going home safely but many suffer musculoskeletal injuries and are unable to do so
89.5% for the squat and stoop examined in thisexamined study. in this stu Compared with commercially available products such as Compared with commercially available products such as Zeblok Smart Shoes Smart
The design could do this with minimal sensors, allowing for a cost-effective design c design could do this with minimal sensors, allowing for a cost-effective design compared pared with on the market solutions
Summary
Millions of workers report to their jobs with the hope of going home safely but many suffer musculoskeletal injuries and are unable to do so. Constant bending, twisting, walking and lifting creates an exertion of forces on the lower extremity. This is transmitted from the bottom of the feet, through the talocrural joint (ankle), into the tibiofemoral joint (knee) and into the acetabulofemoral joint (hip) and the lumbar spine (lower back) [3]. These forces place stress on the joints and are amplified when the joint is in an abnormal position. This increased force and stress on the joints increases the risk of injury to the joints of the lower extremity
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