iPod for Home Balance Rehabilitation Exercise Monitoring

When people fall and experience problems of balance, physical therapists (PTs) often prescribe home balance exercises involving repetitive head movements. Currently, patients´ compliance and performance of these home exercises are invisible to PTs, who need the data to make informed decisions for treatment adjustments. We present an easy-to-use tool that monitors patients´ home balance exercises and provides PTs with accurate, quantitative patient data. The tool, Head Coach, is a wearable device implemented in an iPod, fitted in a pocket on a baseball cap, and worn by patients while doing their exercises. We tested the reliability of the system using a magnetic field tracking device (Polhemus) as the gold standard. The test showed that the iPod can be used to accurately track home balance exercises.