The Reliability and Validity of Wearable Inertial Sensors Coupled with the Microsoft Kinect to Measure Shoulder Range-of-Motion.

Peter Beshara,William Robert Walsh,Tian Wang,Andrew C. Read,Judy F. Chen,Pierre Lagadec

doi:10.3390/s20247238

Peter Beshara, William Robert Walsh + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247238

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Abstract

Background: Objective assessment of shoulder joint active range of motion (AROM) is critical to monitor patient progress after conservative or surgical intervention. Advancements in miniature devices have led researchers to validate inertial sensors to capture human movement. This study investigated the construct validity as well as intra- and inter-rater reliability of active shoulder mobility measurements using a coupled system of inertial sensors and the Microsoft Kinect (HumanTrak). Methods: 50 healthy participants with no history of shoulder pathology were tested bilaterally for fixed and free ROM: (1) shoulder flexion, and (2) abduction using HumanTrak and goniometry. The repeat testing of the standardised protocol was completed after seven days by two physiotherapists. Results: All HumanTrak shoulder movements demonstrated adequate reliability (intra-class correlation (ICC) ≥ 0.70). HumanTrak demonstrated higher intra-rater reliability (ICCs: 0.93 and 0.85) than goniometry (ICCs: 0.75 and 0.53) for measuring free shoulder flexion and abduction AROM, respectively. Similarly, HumanTrak demonstrated higher intra-rater reliability (ICCs: 0.81 and 0.94) than goniometry (ICCs: 0.70 and 0.93) for fixed flexion and abduction AROM, respectively. Construct validity between HumanTrak and goniometry was adequate except for free abduction. The differences between raters were predominately acceptable and below ±10°. Conclusions: These results indicated that the HumanTrak system is an objective, valid and reliable way to assess and track shoulder ROM.

Highlights

Measuring the active range of motion (AROM) of the shoulder joint is a fundamental component in any physical examination to diagnose disease, identify functional limitations and monitor patient progress after conservative therapy or surgical intervention [1,2]
This study pathological conditions, evaluate treatment effectiveness and monitor progress after surgery. This demonstrates that a system using wearable inertial sensors coupled with the Microsoft Kinect is study demonstrates that a system using wearable inertial sensors coupled with the Microsoft Kinect a reliable and valid way to measure active shoulder forward flexion and abduction
This study examined the inter-rater reliability of inertial sensors coupled with the Kinect

Summary

Introduction

Measuring the active range of motion (AROM) of the shoulder joint is a fundamental component in any physical examination to diagnose disease, identify functional limitations and monitor patient progress after conservative therapy or surgical intervention [1,2]. Universal goniometry (UG) is the most widely used instrument to measure the range of motion (ROM) of body joints in clinical settings [3,4]. It consists of two transparent arms connected to a circular protractor with scales between 0 and 360 degrees. HumanTrak demonstrated higher intra-rater reliability (ICCs: 0.93 and 0.85) than goniometry (ICCs: 0.75 and 0.53) for measuring free shoulder flexion and abduction AROM, respectively. HumanTrak demonstrated higher intra-rater reliability (ICCs: 0.81 and 0.94) than goniometry (ICCs: 0.70 and 0.93) for fixed flexion and abduction AROM, respectively. The differences between raters were predominately acceptable and below ±10◦

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