Receive a weekly summary and discussion of the top papers of the week by leading researchers in the field.

In Clinical rehabilitation ; h5-index 46.0

OBJECTIVE : Advances in computer vision make it possible to combine low-cost cameras with algorithms, enabling biomechanical measures of body function and rehabilitation programs to be performed anywhere. We evaluated a computer vision system's accuracy and concurrent validity for estimating clinically relevant biomechanical measures.

DESIGN : Cross-sectional study.

SETTING : Laboratory.

PARTICIPANTS : Thirty-one healthy participants and 31 patients with axial spondyloarthropathy.

INTERVENTION : A series of clinical functional tests (including the gold standard Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index tests). Each test was performed twice: the first performance was recorded with a camera, and a computer vision algorithm was used to estimate variables. During the second performance, a clinician measured the same variables manually.

MAIN MEASURES : Joint angles and inter-limb distances. Clinician measures were compared with computer vision estimates.

RESULTS : For all tests, clinician and computer vision estimates were correlated (r2 values: 0.360-0.768). There were no significant mean differences between methods for shoulder flexion (left: 2 ± 14° (mean ± standard deviation), t = 0.99, p < 0.33; right: 3 ± 15°, t = 1.57, p < 0.12), side flexion (left: - 0.5 ± 3.1 cm, t = -1.34, p = 0.19; right: 0.5 ± 3.4 cm, t = 1.05, p = 0.30) and lumbar flexion ( - 1.1 ± 8.2 cm, t = -1.05, p = 0.30). For all other movements, significant differences were observed, but could be corrected using a systematic offset.

CONCLUSION : We present a computer vision approach that estimates distances and angles from clinical movements recorded with a phone or webcam. In the future, this approach could be used to monitor functional capacity and support physical therapy management remotely.

Cronin Neil J, Mansoubi Maedeh, Hannink Erin, Waller Benjamin, Dawes Helen

2023-Jan-13

Artificial intelligence, clinical test, computer vision, physiotherapy, remote monitoring, telerehabilitation