Assessment of ankle movements through a game-based sphere: Proof of concept

Abstract

Ankle movements are complex and play a key role in displacement and manipulation of equipment. This paper presents a novel game-based device to assess the ankle movements. The system is composed by a hemisphere, a smartphone, a software application for the smartphone and another one for the computer. The hemisphere acts as the main interface between the foot and the software application. Through the hemisphere, which acts as a pointer or jositick for the foot, the user guides a pointer through a hexagonal trajectory. This allows assessing the ankle movements. The developed system was tested with 11 subjects. Preliminary result shows the potential of the system.