I-Corps: accelMOTION

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

More than 65 million Americans suffer from a musculoskeletal injury annually, costing the United States approximately 900 billion dollars every year. Musculoskeletal injuries include injury to the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bone. These injuries are the primary cause of lost work days and often require physical therapy to restore proper function. If care is not taken to restore proper function following injury, one is exposed to a greater risk of re-injury. These injuries are challenging to prevent due to their multifactorial nature, however they are preventable with the right tools and knowledge. Physical therapists are able to help patients recover and restore musculoskeletal function, but it requires regular monitoring which is difficult with the decreasing number of patient visits. Even after physical therapy is completed, there is often a gap between restoring function and being able to return to full activity without risking re-injury. The proposed technology fills this gap and provides patients with a means to assess their progress in recovery and prevent future injury. The proposed technology leverages over 15 years of experience and research on injury prevention in Special Operations Forces operators and in student athletes. The Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh has developed a model that has been proven effective in preventing injuries. This I-Corps team has applied these methods to develop a tool that minimizes the cost, size, effort, and expertise required to identify risk of injury and appropriate training without compromising precision or quality of these assessments. The proposed technology, accelMOTION, has the potential to greatly enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of physical therapy. The ability to accurately quantify measurements and monitor patient compliance will enable them to quickly provide more accurate and repeatable evaluations, as well as consistently manage rehabilitation and treatment outside the physical therapy clinic. This technology enables physical therapists to quickly and quantitatively assess patient characteristics with the use of a small wearable sensor. It can assess neuromuscular, physiological, biomechanical, and musculoskeletal characteristics including balance, flexibility, and task performance. The user is guided on placement of the wearable sensor and how to perform the desired assessment. The platform assesses quality of the measurement, and then uses an algorithm to derive injury risk associated with each assessment. This tool can then be used at home by the patient to monitor their progress in between physical therapy sessions. The physical therapist is easily able to track patient progress both in and out of the clinic. Training recommendations customized to the individual are developed based on the areas that may be exposing the individual to a greater risk of injury making it simple for the physical therapist to modify exercise prescriptions in between clinic visits. This unique and prospective multifactorial approach to study musculoskeletal injury has the ability to greatly enhance patient care following musculoskeletal injury.