Using Inertial Sensors to Evaluate Exercise Correctness in Electromyography-based Home Rehabilitation Systems

Home-based rehabilitation systems can speed up recovery by enabling patients to exercise at home between rehabilitation sessions. However, home-based rehabilitation systems need to monitor and feedback exercises appropriately, as incorrect or imperfect exercises negatively impact the recovery of the patient. This paper describes a methodology for assessing the quality of rehabilitation exercises using inertial sensors, for a system that tracks exercises using surface electromyography sensors. This duality extends the information provided by the electromyography system since it provides a more comprehensive evaluation of posture and movement correctness. The methodology was evaluated with 17 physiotherapy patients, obtaining an average accuracy of 96% in detecting issues in the exercises monitored. The insights of this work are a first step to complement an electromyography-based home system to detect issues in movement and inform patients in real time about the correctness of their exercises.