Camera based arm motion tracking for stroke rehabilitation patients

Abstract

Human motion tracking for rehabilitation has been a progressive research area since the 1980s. It has been driven by the increased number of patients who have suffered a stroke, or some other motor function disability. Rehabilitation is a dynamic process in which it enables patients to regain their normal functional capabilities. To achieve this goal, a patients’ activities need to be continuously monitored, and subsequently corrected. However, due to economic pressures, stroke patients are receiving less therapy and are sent home sooner, so the potential benefit of the therapy is not completely realized. Thus, it is essential to develop a rehabilitation technology that allows individuals who had suffered a stroke to practice intensive movement training without the need of an always-present therapist. This paper introduces a real-time human arm motion tracking system specifically intent to be used for home-based rehabilitation. The system consists of an inexpensive webcam and a laptop. Then our algorithm is able to extract the patient’s arm, track the motion of any point on the arm over time, evaluate its velocity and measure the angular motions, namely “elbow flexion”, “elbow extension”, “wrist flexion” and “wrist extension” movements, furthermore, the trajectory of any point of interest on the arm can be evaluated and visualized for the patient or doctor for further analysis.