Investigating the feasibility of a wireless motion capture system to aid in the rehabilitation of total knee replacement patients

Currently, patients are discharged to their homes after successful total knee replacement (TKR) surgery with a standard exercise booklet that contains instructions on how to carry out home exercises. This paper investigates the feasibility of building a low cost inertial motion capture system to provide patients with real time visualization of biomechanical data while performing home based rehabilitation exercises. Commercially available motion capture systems suitable for clinical diagnosis or rehabilitation, such as Vicon are expensive, require professionals to setup and have complex calibration procedures. The accuracy of our proposed motion capture system is assessed using a Vicon optical motion tracking system The measurements are compared using a simple total angular displacement analysis.