Geriatric Physiotherapy: A Telerehabilitation System for Identifying Therapeutic Exercises

Abstract

Population aging is a global reality, which can be characterized by morphological, psychological and functional changes. With the limitations resulting from the aging state, changes can occur in the performance of activities of daily living, such as decreased muscle strength, reduced bone mass, loss of flexibility and decreased capacity of the sensory system. Physiotherapy actively assists in the health promotion and prevention process, reducing the effects of the aging and improving the life quality. This paper has the objective of develop a movement monitoring device to assist in the rehabilitation of elderly people. The accelerometers or motion sensors, store data for long periods of time, providing information about the movement activities of the subjects over a desired period. These sensors are a useful tool in the assessment of physical activity. Through the data of accelerometer, it is possible to evaluate all type of physical activities. This is a pilot study composed by three steps: development, validation and application of the instrument. For the application and validation of this study, it was used a protocol of exercises, in order to capture the variations of the X, Y and Z axes of the accelerometers in each exercise. In the study, it was possible to identify the movements during the performance of the proposed protocol. Through he accelerometers position and the varying of his axes, it was possible to classify the exercises according to the number of repetitions and the time spent performing the exercise. In addition, it was possible to monitor remotely in real time by a physiotherapist. It is concluded that this device can assist in the management of elderly patients, assisting the health professional during the rehabilitation process.