title: Upper limb joint angle measurement in occupational health.
abstract: Usual human motion capture systems are designed to work in controlled laboratory conditions. For occupational health, instruments that can measure during normal daily life are essential, as the evaluation of the workers' movements is a key factor to reduce employee injury- and illness-related costs. In this paper, we present a method for joint angle measurement, combining inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes) and magnetic sensors. This method estimates wrist flexion, wrist lateral deviation, elbow flexion, elbow pronation, shoulder flexion, shoulder abduction and shoulder internal rotation. The algorithms avoid numerical integration of the signals, which allows for long-time estimations without angle estimation drift. The system has been tested both under laboratory and field conditions. Controlled laboratory tests show mean estimation errors between 0.06° and of 1.05°, and standard deviation between 2.18° and 9.20°. Field tests seem to confirm these results when no ferromagnetic materials are close to the measurement system.
authors.affiliation: a SiMuR Lab, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Oviedo , Viesques, Ed. 2, 33204 , Gijón , Spain.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Álvarez
authors.affiliation: a SiMuR Lab, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Oviedo , Viesques, Ed. 2, 33204 , Gijón , Spain.
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.affiliation: a SiMuR Lab, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Oviedo , Viesques, Ed. 2, 33204 , Gijón , Spain.
authors.forename: Rafael C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: a SiMuR Lab, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Oviedo , Viesques, Ed. 2, 33204 , Gijón , Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: López
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D000465:Algorithms; D004551:Elbow Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement; D016272:Occupational Health; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D012399:Rotation; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000502:physiology*; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: inertial measurement system; joint angle measurement; occupational health; wearable sensors