Method and apparatus for angular position and velocity based determination of body sway for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of balance and gait disorders
First Claim
1. A body sway monitoring system, comprising:
- (a) a body sway sensor adapted to be attached to the body of a subject and providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the body;
(b) a system processor means for deriving continuous body sway information from the body sway signals and for generating an operator display of the body sway information; and
(c) an operator display means for displaying the operator display to an operator of the system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of abnormal postural sway of a subject during standing or the performance of movement tasks is provided. Body sway sensors, such as angular velocity transducers, are attached to the body, such as the upper torso, of the subject. Output signals from the body sway sensors are transformed into detailed body sway angular displacement and velocity information by a system processor. The body sway angular displacement and velocity information may be displayed to an operator for diagnosis of the subject'"'"'s balance or gait disorders. The angular displacement and velocity information may also be provided as feedback to the subject, to augment the signals normally used by the subject'"'"'s brain to help stabilize body sway and improve balance. Rehabilitory feedback may be in visual, auditory, and/or tactile form, and/or in the form of electrical stimulation of the vestibular nerve. For visual feedback, a lightweight imaging system mounted on a pair of eyewear may be used to project a body sway angle and angular velocity feedback display into an eye of the subject. An angular position and velocity based body sway diagnosis system in accordance with the present invention may be used to monitor simultaneously the body sway of multiple subjects, and to provide rehabilitory feedback to such subjects, without interfering with or restricting the normal movement activities of the subjects.
530 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A body sway monitoring system, comprising:
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(a) a body sway sensor adapted to be attached to the body of a subject and providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the body; (b) a system processor means for deriving continuous body sway information from the body sway signals and for generating an operator display of the body sway information; and (c) an operator display means for displaying the operator display to an operator of the system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for providing augmenting prosthetic body sway feedback to improve a subject'"'"'s balance and movement control, comprising:
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(a) a body sway sensor adapted to be attached to the body of a subject and providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the body; (b) a system processor means for deriving continuous body sway information from the body sway signals and for generating body sway feedback from the body sway information; and (c) a subject body sway feedback means for providing the body sway feedback to the subject. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A central monitoring system for monitoring the body sway of one or more subjects, comprising:
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(a) a body sway sensor adapted to be attached to the body of each subject, each body sway sensor providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the subject'"'"'s body; (b) a system processor means for deriving continuous body sway information for each subject from the body sway signals, for comparing the body sway information for each subject with a set of safety rules defining an angular cone of stability of the subject, and for generating a fall warning indication when a subject'"'"'s body sway exceeds an angle greater than a selected fraction of the angular cone of stability; and (c) an operator display means for displaying the fall warning indication to an operator of the system. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method for monitoring the body sway of a subject, comprising the steps of:
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(a) attaching a body sway sensor to the body of a subject, the body sway sensor providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the body; (b) deriving continuous body sway angle and body sway angular velocity information from the body sway signals and generating an operator display of the body sway angle and body sway angular velocity information; and (c) displaying the operator display to an operator of the system. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method for providing augmenting prosthetic body sway feedback to improve a subject'"'"'s balance and movement control, comprising the steps of:
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(a) attaching a body sway sensor to the body of a subject, the body sway sensor providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the body; (b) deriving continuous body sway angle and body sway angular velocity information from the body sway signals and generating body sway feedback from the body sway angle and angular velocity information; and (c) providing the body sway feedback to the subject. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A method for monitoring the body sway of one or more subjects, comprising the steps of:
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(a) attaching a body sway sensor to the body of each subject, each body sway sensor providing continuous body sway signals indicative of the sway of the subject'"'"'s body; (b) deriving continuous body sway information for each subject from the body sway signals, comparing the body sway information for each subject with a set of safety rules defining an angular cone of stability of the subject, and generating a fall warning indication when a subject'"'"'s body sway exceeds an angle greater than a selected fraction to the angular cone of stability; and (c) displaying the fall warning indication to an operator of the system. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67)
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Specification