Magnet Integrated Shirt for Spinal Posture Detection

Abstract

Spine Curvature Disorder (SCD) is a medical condition that affects the shape of the spine. The current method of detecting and treating SCDs involves visual inspection and measurements by trained specialists and analyzing X-rays. For the patients, treatment or therapy is prescribed, and progress is monitored by exposing SCD patients to multiple periodic X-rays to determine responses to treatments and therapies. Multiple exposures to X-rays are not only desirable but also very costly. Therefore, we propose a new method for detecting and monitoring SCD and present our initial research results. We have implemented a non-invasive method that can detect and track the spinal postures. Magnets are placed on a shirt in the form of a rectangular grid form then a sensor would be placed on the chest of the body. An on-body magnetic sensor records the sensor data values, and data is analyzed to determine if the upper body posture is straight or is curved, which in turn can assist the detection and monitoring of the spinal postures. We present our initial results on magnetic sensor system testing and preliminary results using wearable sensors and a garment integrated magnetic shirt.