System to assess activity level of a user

• US 9,408,560 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Modus Health LLC
• Original Assignee: Modus Health LLC
• Inventors: Coleman Boone, Kim Lisa, Boone, David Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Stout, Michael C
• Application Number:
  US14/659,090
• Publication Number:
  US 20150182148A1
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: 600/587, 600/592, 600/595
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1118 Determining activity level
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/112 Gait analysis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1124 Determining motor skills
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4851 Prosthesis assessment or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6829 Foot or ankle
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 22/006 Pedometers
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation

Abstract

A pedometer that records the number of steps over a defined period of time and a moment sensor that records the moments experienced by a prosthesis are used in a networked computer environment to assess the functional activity level and instability of a lower limb amputee. The networked environment may include a user computer and a server computer in communication through the Internet. Both the user computer and the server computer include a functional assessment tool and a stability assessment tool. The tools on the user computer and server computer cooperate in assessing the activity level and the instability of a lower limb amputee. The server computer may further host a Website and a secure online database that provides support to the user including the managing of clients and their medical records.

Claims

1. A system for assessing an activity level of a user, comprising:

a sensor configured to be affixed to the user configured to determine a metric of the user;

a memory configured to store the metric of the user;

a processor coupled to a server, wherein the processor is configured to adjust the sensor to determine the metric of the user, and configured to receive from the memory the stored metric of the user;

the server being in communication with the processor, and the server being configured to;

receive the metric from the processor; and

process the metric to provide a value determinative of a functional ability of a user, wherein the value of the functional ability of the user is an average derived from values obtained from a group consisting of;

a value representing cadence variability, a value representing potential movement of the user, a value representing maximum movement of the user, and a value representing a clinical observation of the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server hosts a Website that provides at least one selected from a group consisting of a service for determining the value of the functional ability level of the user, a client manager tool, and an online database.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server comprises a remote functional assessment tool.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server determines, based on the metric, the value representing the cadence variability as a variance in an amount of time that the user spends at a plurality of levels of a step rate in a defined period of time.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server determines, based on the metric, the value representing the potential movement of the user as a number of steps taken by the user in a defined period of time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server determines, based on the metric, the value representing the maximum movement of the user as a maximum number of steps taken by the user in a defined period of time.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a docking station configured to couple the processor with the sensor, wherein the docking station communicates with the sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the functional ability value is usable to determine a prescription of components for a prosthesis.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the determination of the value representing the cadence variability or the value representing the potential movement of the user includes a comparison of the metric for a sample of users.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the metric is at least one selected from a group consisting of step tracking, step activity, step rate, time activity, and time tracking.