Development of Shoes Preventing Musculoskeletal Injuries attached with a ICT Convergent Smart Health Care Monitoring System

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The purpose is to develop smart shoes with sensors that help prevent musculoskeletal disorder of individual workers using ICT convergent technology. Unlike accidental injury, musculoskeletal disorder is a functional disorder that occurs from inflammatory response to minute damage in soft tissues or from cumulative damage in muscles or tissues caused by repetitive motions. Methods/Statistical analysis: This study intended to develop an intelligent shoe platform for analysis of musculoskeletal disorder prevention by analyzing working conditions and postures of musculoskeletal disorder, securing biomechanical database on characteristics of consumers demanding prevention of musculoskeletal disorder, and developing hardware module and platform. The aim was to develop a sensor module for analyzing dynamic walking posture and to come up with structure and design of shoes for prevention of musculoskeletal disorder. Findings: Working postures that induce musculoskeletal disorder can be analyzed easily by adding smart function to work shoes through existing smart devices. As workers can recognize and monitor working postures that induce musculoskeletal disorder on a real-time basis using sound or vibration generated during work, posture can be constantly improved. Improvements/Applications: Workers can easily obtain information about working postures that induce musculoskeletal disorder. The system can be utilized as a solution to prevent and manage musculoskeletal disorder more efficiently.