Quantitative Approach Based on Wearable Inertial Sensors to Assess and Identify Motion and Errors in Techniques Used during Training of Transfers of Simulated c-Spine-Injured Patients

Figure 1

Methods of measurement. (a) Attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS) include a 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to measure, respectively, linear acceleration, angular velocity, and magnetic field. Data are passed on to a proprietary fusion algorithm (included in the measurement system) to estimate the orientation of the platform in a fixed and global reference frame-based gravity and magnetic north. (b) Attached on the forehead and the trunk of a simulated patient, AHRS estimates the orientation of both segments in the same global reference frame. (c) Relative orientation of the head to the trunk can therefore be computed directly from the measurement system. (d) Relative orientation is also decomposed into anatomic motion using a dynamic anatomical alignment process.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)