Design and Tests of a Biofeedback Based Weight Bearing Rehabilitation Device

Sammanfattning: As upper-limb rehabilitation devices development continue to grow, lower limb rehabilitation devices have limited development. Thus a device that measures weight bearing of heel and forefoot during gait and also produces auditory feedback at certain thresholds were made in this project. The device was constructed based on an ARM-Core microcontroller and was supported by 5 force sensing resistor sensors for each foot. Communications between the modules and the computer as the GUI were established using an UART interface. For testing, sensors were placed beneath the foot using a stretchable cloth so each different subjects’ pressure points were correctly placed. The biofeedback used for this device was by enabling a buzzer and LED embedded to the designed board that turns on when heel strike or push off reached acertain threshold. Testing were divided into phase one and two. From phase one, it was concluded that both push off and heel strike event can have a reading exceeding 8.5% of the body weight. It was then used as a threshold for the biofeedback event. During the biofeedback tests, improvements in the subjects’ walking pattern and reading were noted. Results suggest that biofeedback can change the behavior of the subject.