A Magnetic Field-Based Wearable Respiration Sensor for Real-Time Monitoring During Pulmonary Rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE: This work explores Hall effect sensing paired with a permanent magnet, in the context of pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training. METHODS: Experimental evaluation was performed considering as reference the gold-standard of respiratory monitoring, an airflow transducer, and performance was compared to another wearable device with analogous usability - a piezoelectric sensor. A total of 16 healthy participants performed 15 activities, representative of pulmonary rehabilitation exercises, simultaneously using all devices. Evaluation was performed based on detection of flow reversal events and key respiratory parameters. RESULTS: Overall, the proposed sensor outperformed the piezoelectric sensor with a mean ratio, precision, and recall of 0.97, 0.97, and 0.95, respectively, against 0.98, 0.90, and 0.88. Evaluation regarding the respiratory parameters indicates an adequate accuracy when it comes to breath cycle, inspiration, and expiration times, with mean relative errors around 4% for breath cycle and 8% for inspiration/expiration times, despite some variability. Bland-Altman analysis indicates no systematic biases. CONCLUSION: Characterization of the proposed sensor shows adequate monitoring capabilities for exercises that do not rely heavily on torso mobility, but may present a limitation when it comes to activities such as side stretches. SIGNIFICANCE: This work provides a comprehensive characterization of a magnetic field-based respiration sensor, including a discussion on its robustness to different algorithm thresholds. It proves the viability of the sensor in a range of exercises, expanding the applicability of Hall effect sensors as a feasible wearable approach to real-time respiratory monitoring.

Feasibility of 3D Body Tracking from Monocular 2D Video Feeds in Musculoskeletal Telerehabilitation.

Musculoskeletal conditions affect millions of people globally; however, conventional treatments pose challenges concerning price, accessibility, and convenience. Many telerehabilitation solutions offer an engaging alternative but rely on complex hardware for body tracking. This work explores the feasibility of a model for 3D Human Pose Estimation (HPE) from monocular 2D videos (MediaPipe Pose) in a physiotherapy context, by comparing its performance to ground truth measurements. MediaPipe Pose was investigated in eight exercises typically performed in musculoskeletal physiotherapy sessions, where the Range of Motion (ROM) of the human joints was the evaluated parameter. This model showed the best performance for shoulder abduction, shoulder press, elbow flexion, and squat exercises. Results have shown a MAPE ranging between 14.9% and 25.0%, Pearson's coefficient ranging between 0.963 and 0.996, and cosine similarity ranging between 0.987 and 0.999. Some exercises (e.g., seated knee extension and shoulder flexion) posed challenges due to unusual poses, occlusions, and depth ambiguities, possibly related to a lack of training data. This study demonstrates the potential of HPE from monocular 2D videos, as a markerless, affordable, and accessible solution for musculoskeletal telerehabilitation approaches. Future work should focus on exploring variations of the 3D HPE models trained on physiotherapy-related datasets, such as the Fit3D dataset, and post-preprocessing techniques to enhance the model's performance.

Effectiveness of a Gamified and Home-Based Approach for Upper-limb Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation treatments have been greatly en-hanced by health-enabling technologies, as these enable more objective and interactive interventions. Multiple studiesindi-cate that gamification is efficient in promoting treatment cus-tomization, adherence, motivation, and engagement, leading to increased patient satisfaction. In this work we study the effectiveness of a novel gamified telerehabilitation system. Pa-tients exercise within a digital game-like experience, with their motion tracked using an user-friendly "invisibles" paradigm, i.e. without requiring sensor placed on the body. Pain, ad-herence and satisfaction data was collected and analysed. Our approach was particularly relevant during the acute stages of the pandemic, during severe restrictions in the access to in-person rehabilitation activities. A total of 62 patients participated in this study, during a 14-month period. Each patient completed an average of 16 sessions, and 85.5% of them were considered fully recovered after the protocol completion. All patients improved their pain level, with an overall 73.3% average pain reduction. Moreover, in the end of the treatment 79.4% of the patients reported their pain in the levels 0 or 1 (in a 0-10 scale). In terms of treatment satisfaction, 95% of the patients would reportedly recommend the proposed solution to a friend of family. Moreover, the main benefits reported were the convenience, time flexibility, and customization. Our results validate the clinical outcomes and the healthcare quality perceived by the patients in the use of the approach in telerehabilitation for shoulder-related conditions, and are encouraging for usage in further physical rehabilitation fields.

Septic arthritis of the sternoclavicular joint in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Septic arthritis is an unusual manifestation in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The sternoclavicular joint is rarely affected, although it should be considered in immunosuppressed patients and users of intravenous drugs. Staphylococcus aureus is the most common pathogen detected and should be covered by empiric antibiotic therapy.