title: Ambulatory measurement of arm orientation.
abstract: In order to evaluate the impact of neuromuscular disorders affecting the upper extremities, the functional use of the arm need to be evaluated during daily activities. A system suitable for measuring arm kinematics should be ambulatory and not interfere with activities of daily living. A measurement system based on miniature accelerometers and gyroscopes is adequate because the sensors are small and do not suffer from line of sight problems. A disadvantage of such sensors is the cumulative drift around the vertical and the problems with aligning the sensor with the segment. A method that uses constraints in the elbow to measure the orientation of the lower arm with respect to the upper arm is described. This requires a calibration method to determine the exact orientation of each of the sensors with respect to the segment. Some preliminary measurements were analyzed and they indicated a strong reduction in orientation error around the vertical. It seemed that the accuracy of the method is limited by the accuracy of the sensor to segment calibration.
authors.affiliation: Xsens Technologies b.v., Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Luinge
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Veltink
authors.forename: C T M
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Baten
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000465:Algorithms; D001132:Arm / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological