Determination of the healing corridor of patients with knee arthroplasty by a motor-powered rollator

Abstract

Walking frames, also called rollators, are providing stability and mobility to people who are suffering on walking deficits. As technology advances, more and more electric-powered rollators are entering the market. In addition to motor assistance and an self-regulating speed control, the benefit of power enables the usage of sensors, connectivity and a new kind of health support. Hereby, the rollator senses the user's walking pattern and supports the training and healing process. Patients with severe destruction of the knee joint may require total knee replacement. Since rapid mobilization after surgery is important, the rollator can also be used to support physiotherapy. In this paper, we present and discuss the continuous assessment of gait parameters, training, and importance of a healing corridor of patients after total knee arthroplasty using autonomous rollators. Hereby, we demonstrate the advantages of the healing corridor, which relates the individual healing progress to other patients. The determination of the healing progress and its indicators will be done by objective sensor parameters obtained by using the robot rollator RoRo.