Applications of inertial sensors in medicine: towards model-based rehabilitation of stroke

Present work introduces to the concept of a quantitative assessment of stroke rehabilitation using an inverse dynamical analysis and inertial sensors for measurement of motor functions in a clinical setting. The application in medicine gives possibilities to evaluate quantitatively damaged motor functions via instrumented analysis thus proposing an additional tool for monitoring of rehabilitation process with a larger accuracy. The paper presents a simplified dynamical model of an upper extremity which allows estimating joint torques via inverse dynamics from measured arm's kinematics. The model serves as an initial step going towards patient-specific model-based rehabilitation in the future.