Measurement of complementary trunk movement in robot-mediated upper limb rehabilitation

In this paper, we present a method and software that measure the trunk movement of the patients during the robot-mediated rehabilitation for upper limbs. Usually, people with reduced mobility such as stroke patients unintentionally use their trunk to satisfy goals of trainings (e.g. reaching specific points), which reduces outcomes of the rehabilitation therapies. Hence it’s important to monitor trunk movement during trainings. The method utilizes two IMUs (Inertial Measurement Unit) placed in back and affected upper arm. The developed software displays the trunk movement in 3D avatar and plots while providing the estimated percentage of trunk involvement in therapy. To evaluate the method and software, they have been implemented in the UHP upper limb rehabilitation robot and tested through reaching exercises with a group of 25 healthy people. The results show that the method works properly in measuring trunk motion during training.