Wearable therapist: sensing garments for supporting children improve posture

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a sensing garment to support posture coaching in children. The system measures back bending postures using acceleration sensors embedded in the garment. We present a sensing garment architecture and the evaluation of garments of different sizes in a study with 21 children. A vision-based reference system was used to evaluate sensor positions and measurement accuracy for 54 back bending postures and related head positions. Then, we asked eight physiotherapists to rate the children's back postures in this study. Ratings of experts correlated significantly with the back bending measurements obtained from the garment. The garment enables an objective assessment of back postures and could form the basis of a system that provides coaching feedback to improve postural control in children.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.3 LIFE AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Medical information systems

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Measurement

Keywords:
back posture, rehabilitation, smart garments, smash