Biomedical instrumentation based on piezoelectric ceramics

New sensors and actuators based on emerging transducer technologies can play a crucial role in the field of biomedical instrumentation and rehabilitation technologies. Piezoelectricity and transducers based on the piezoelectric effect might lead to the adoption of compact sensor and actuator solutions in this field. This paper addresses a review of piezoelectric and piezoresistive transducer applications in the field of biomedical instrumentation. As an emerging application field, the potential implementation of these transducers in inertial motion analysis is addressed. The potential applications for these devices are high but we will focus on piezoelectric sensors in the area of inertial and portable biomechanical measurement systems and on piezoelectric actuators in active orthotics.